LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


Class 


America  s  Great  Men  and  Their  Deeds. 


American  Inventions 
and  Inventors 


By 

William  A.  Mowry,  A.M.,  Ph.D. 
and  Arthur  May  Mowry,  A.M. 

Authors  of  "  First  Steps  in  the  History  of  our  Country"  and  "A  History  of  the 
United  States,  for  Schools." 


OF   THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


Silver,  Burdett  and  Company 

New  York    Boston    Chicago 


FOR  THE  STUDY  OF  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

FIRST  STEPS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  OUR  COUNTRY. 

By  WILLIAM  A.  MOWRY,  A.M.,  PH.D.,  and  ARTHUR  MAY  MOWRY,A.M. 
Pp.  320,  profusely  illustrated.  The  narrative  of  our  country  as  told  in 
the  stories  of  39  great  Americans.  Introductory  price,  60  cents. 

A  HISTORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  for  Schools. 

By  WILLIAM  A.  MOWRY,  A.M.,  PH.D.,  and  ARTHUR  MAY  MOWRY,  A.M. 
Pp.  466,  highly  illustrated.  Accurate  in  statement,  clear  and  graphic 
in  style,  patriotic  and  unpartisan  in  spirit.  Introductory  price,  $1.00. 

HISTORICAL  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

By  TOWNSEND  MAcCouN,  A.M.  Pp.  48,  43  colored  maps  with  text. 
Introductory  price,  90  cents. 

HISTORICAL  CHARTS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

By  TOWNSEND  MACCOUN,  A.M.  20  charts,  38x40  inches,  containing  26 
progressive  maps,  in  high  colors,  for  school  and  lecture-room  use.  Intro- 
ductory price,  with  supporter,  $15.00. 

Both  the  "  Historical  Geography  "  and  the  "  Historical  Charts  "  portray  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  map  of  our  country  after  each  of  its  changes  until  the  present. 


GENERAL 


Copyright,  IQOO 
BY  SILVER,  BURDETT  AND  COMPANY 


PREFACE. 

A  SCHOOL  history  should  set  forth  such  facts,  and  in  such 
an  order,  as  to  show  the  progress  of  civilization.  The  great 
lessons  of  history  are  found  in  that  line  of  events  in  the 
past  which  exhibits  the  progress  of  mankind — the  uplift  of 
humanity.  The  record  of  no  other  country  can  present  a 
more  startling  array  of  forward  movements  and  upward 
tendencies  than  that  of  our  own  land,  and  in  no  one  direc- 
tion does  this  upward  movement  appear  quite  so  clearly  as  in 
the  line  of  inventions. 

Man's  efforts  are,  first,  to  overcome  nature.  Food, 
shelter,  and  clothing  are  his  primary  wants.  After  these 
are  supplied,  he  rises  to  higher  realms  of  thought  and 
action.  Then  he  nourishes  his  intellect,  exercises  his  sensi- 
bilities, and  provides  nutriment  for  his  soul,  that  it,  also, 
may  grow.  In  this  book  the  above  logical  order  is  followed. 

It  is  painfully  evident  that  many  school-children  dislike 
the  study  of  history.  The  authors  of  this  book  believe  that 
this  need  not  be.  It  is  clear  that  the  study  should  be  under- 
taken at  an  earlier  age  than  is  usually  the  case  in  our  public 
schools.  It  is  not  necessary,  and  oftentimes  not  desirable, 
that  the  books  of  history  should  be  studied  as  text-books. 
Frequently  they  should  be  used  as  reading  books.  Such  use 
is  more  likely  to  develop  in  the  minds  of  the  younger  chil- 
dren a  love  for  history. 

This  book,  while  adapted  to  older  persons,  has  been  pre- 
pared with  special  reference  to  the  needs  and  capacities  of 
children  from  ten  to  twelve  years  of  age.  It  is  commended 
to  teachers  and  parents  with  full  confidence  that  they  will 
find  it  useful,  and  that  the  children  will  be  both  interested 
and  profited  by  its  perusal. 


196466 


CONTENTS 


I.  FIRE,      . 

II.  INDIAN  HOMES,     . 

III.  COLONIAL  HOMES, 

IV.  CHIMNEYS, 


HEAT. 

PAGE          CHAPTER 

ii  V.  FUEL,  . 
17  VI.  COAL,  . 
24  VII.  MATCHES, 


PAGE 

•     37 
,     44 


I.  TORCHES, 
II.  CANDLES, 

III.  WHALE  OIL, 

IV.  KEROSENE, 


LIGHT. 


61 

67 

72 

77 


V.  ILLUMINATING  GAS,       .     81 

VI.  ELECTRIC  LIGHTING,    .     85 

VII.  LIGHTHOUSES,       .        .     90 


FOOD. 


I.  UNCULTIVATED   FOODS,     99 
II.  CULTIVATED  FOODS,     .   104 
III.  IMPLEMENTS      FOR 

PLANTING,          .        .in 


IV.  IMPLEMENTS  FOR  HAR- 
VESTING,    .        .        .117 
V.  SOIL,      .        .        .        .124 
VI.  A  MODERN  DINNER,     .  131 


CLOTHING. 


I.  COLONIAL  CONDITIONS,   143 

II.  THE  COTTON  GIN,        .   148 

III.  COTTON,         .        .        .153 

IV.  WOOL 158 


V.  LEATHER,       .        .        .  164 

VI.  NEEDLES,       .        .        .172 

VII.  THE  STEAM  ENGINE,    .   178 


TRAVEL. 


I.  BY  LAND,      .  .  .187 

II.  BY  WATER,  .  .  .194 

III.  STAGECOACHES,  .  .  200 

IV.  STEAMBOATS,  .  .  207 
V.  CANALS,         .  .  .215 


VI.  RAILROADS,   .        .        .  223 
VII.  MODERN  WATER  TRAV- 
EL,     ....  229 
VIII.  MODERN  LAND  TRAVEL,  235 


LETTERS. 


I.  LANGUAGE,    . 

II.  THE  PRINTING  PRESS, 

III.  THE  POSTAL  SYSTEM, 

IV.  SIGNALING,    . 


247 
252 
258 
265 


V.  THE  TELEGRAPH,  .        .  270 

VI.  THE  ATLANTIC  CABLE,  278 

VII.  THE  TELEPHONE,  .        .   286 

VIII.  CONCLUSION,         .        .292 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Count  Rumford     ............  9 

A  New  England  Kitchen  One  Hundred  Years  Ago    .....  10 

A  Train  Leaving  the  Station        ......  n 

A  Vestal  Virgin              ...........  14 

Iroquois  Long  House    .         .        .        .        .        .         .        .        .        .        .20 

Indian  Method  of  Broiling    ..........  22 

Plying  the  Axe      ............  25 

A  Colonial  Fireplace 27 

Hauling  in  a  Backlog 29 

Cooking  in  a  Colonial  Kitchen 30 

A  Franklin  Stove 34 

In  a  Coal  Mine 42 

Blacksmith  at  His  Forge      ....                                           .        .  49 


Thomas  Carrying  Fire 

Tinder  Box,  Flint,  and  Matches  . 

Thomas  A.  Edison 


Minot  Ledge  Light,  Massachusetts  Bay 
Indians  Traveling  at  Night 


.  52 

.  53 

•  59 

.  60 

.  62 

Ancient  Lamps     .........        ...  65 

Franklin  Making  Candles    ..........  69 

Reading  by  Candlelight        ..........  70 

Whale  Fishing .         .         .73 

Oil  Wells 79 

A  Gasometer .  83 

Edison's  Heroic  Act 86 

Grace  Darling 94 

Cyrus  H.  McCormick 97 

Cutting  Sugar  Cane  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands 98 

Indians  Hunting  Game 102 

The  Corn  Dance  ............  104 

Captain  John  Smith      ...........  106 

An  Ancient  Plow           ...........  109 

Mowing  with  Scythes   .         .         .         .         .         .         .        .         .         .         .118 

A  Reaper  and  Binder 120 

The  McCormick  Reaper 121 

Threshing  with  Flail 123 

Colonists  in  a  Shallop 124 

An  Irrigpting  Trench 128 

A  Rice  Field         .,,.,,,.,,..  129 


10  LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

A  Dinner  Party .  131 

Loading  Fish  at  Gloucester 134 

A  Cattle  Train 136 

Drying  Coffee  in  Java 139 

Eli  Whitney 141 

A  Quilting  Bee  in  the  Olden  Time .142 

Tailor  and  Cobbler        ...........   145 

Flax  Wheel 146 

An  Old-Fashioned  Loom      .         .........   147 

A  Cotton  Field      ............  149 

A  Cotton  Pod 150 

The  Cotton  Gin 151 

President  Jackson  and  Mr.  Slater 156 

The  Interior  of  a  Modern  Cotton  Mill 157 

Sheep-Shearing 162 

Dr.  Whitman  Starting  on  His  Journey 168 

Sewing  by  Hand 173 

An  Old  Windmill 178 

A  Corliss  Engine  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .181 

Robert  Fulton 185 

An  Ocean  Steamer        .         .         .         .         .        .         .        .        .        .        .186 

A  Man  and  His  Wife  Traveling  on  Horseback 191 

The  Bay-Path 193 

Pilgrim  Exiles • 195 

A  Birch- Bark  Canoe 197 

Old -Style  Calashes 202 

An  Old- Fashioned  Stagecoach 204 

Munroe  Tavern,  Lexington,  Mass 205 

Fitch's  Steamboat 209 

Collision  of  the  Clermont  and  the  Sloop      .         .        .        .        .        .         .217 

The  Erie  Canal .221 

Old-Style  Railroad  Train 227 

A  River  Tunnel 234 

A  Pullman  Sleeper 237 

Brooklyn  Bridge 239 

The  Boston  Subway      .         .         . 242 

Electric  Car,  New  York  City        .        .        . 243 

Samuel  F.  B.  Morse 245 

Modern  Printing  Presses 246 

Ancient  Implements  of  Writing 249 

An  Ancient  Scribe 251 

A  Franklin  Press 255 

Postage  Stamps 261 

Assorting  Mail  on  the  Train 262 

Signaling  by  Beacon  Fires  ........••   266 

Electric  Wires 270 

Morse  Hears  of  His  Success 274 

Laying  an  Ocean  Cable 282 

The  Great  Eastern 283 

A  Telephone 287 

Alexander  Bell  Using  a  Long-Distance  Telephone     .        .        .        .        .288 


COUNT  RUMFORD. 


SECTION   I.-HEAT. 


AMERICAN  INVENTIONS  AND  INVENTORS. 


SECTION   I.— HEAT 


CHAPTER    I. 
FIRE. 

LL  aboard !  "  cries  the  conductor, 
and  slowly  the  long  train  draws 
out  of  the  San  Francisco  station 
on  its  way  to  Chicago  and  the 
Atlantic  coast.  Three  sleepers, 
two  chair  coaches,  passenger, 
baggage,  and  mail  cars,  loaded 
with  travelers,  trunks,  and 
pouches  of  letters  and  papers; 
we  are  familiar  with  the  sight 
of  these  heavy  cars  and  the 
puffing  engine  which  draws 
them.  But  what  makes  the 
train  move?  What  power  is 
It  is  the  power  of  steam,  and 

steam  is  made  from  water  by  means  of  fire. 

Now  the  long  journey  across  the  continent  is  over,  and 

we  are  standing  on  the  dock  in  New  York  City.     Here  we 


A    TRAIN     LEAVING  THE    STATION. 


great   enough  to  do  this? 


12  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

see  the  steamboat  Puritan,  thronged  with  passengers,  ready 
to  steam  away  from  the  wharf  on  its  regular  night  trip  to 
Fall  River.  For  hours,  perhaps,  we  have  been  watching  the 
longshoremen  as  they  have  rushed  back  and  forth,  loading 
the  great  vessel  with  freight  for  New  England.  A  few 
minutes  later,  as  we  see  the  majestic  steamer,  hundreds  of 
feet  long — larger  than  most  city  business  buildings — slowly, 
but  gracefully  moving  away  from  the  dock,  we  say  to  our- 
selves, "  Can  it  be  that  steam,  caused  by  fire,  has  power 
enough  to  make  the  steamboat  move  through  the  water  like 
this?" 

While  we  watch  the  steamer  glide  around  Castle  Garden 
into  East  River,  evening  begins  to  come  on ;  we  must  hasten 
uptown.  As  we  pass  along  Broadway,  lights  flash  out  in. 
the  darkness  and  our  thoughts  are  again  turned  to  fire  and 
steam.  We  have  heard  that  the  source  of  the  electric  light 
is  in  the  dynamo,  and  that  steam  power  is  used  to  turn  that 
great  machine.  The  enormous  engine,  the  mammoth  boat, 
the  brilliant  light — all  need  the  power  of  steam,  and  nothing 
but  fire  will  produce  this  steam.  What,  then,  is  fire?  and  is 
its  only  use  that  of  changing  quiet,  liquid  water  into  powerful 
steam?  Let  us  see. 

Did  you  notice  that  machine  shop  which  we  passed  when 
we  were  in  Cleveland  a  few  days  ago?  Did  you  see  those 
furnaces  with  the  huge  volumes  of  flame  bursting  out  of  the 
open  doors?  You  know  that  great  heat  is  necessary  to  make 
tools  and  other  implements  of  iron,  and  all  the  instruments 
of  everyday  life  that  are  formed  out  of  metals.  Our  pens 
and  needles,  our  hoes  and  rakes,  our  horseshoes,  our  stoves 
and  furnaces,  our  registers  and  the  iron  of  our  desks — all  de- 
pend upon  heat  for  their  production.  Fire  can  do  much  for 
us.  To  change  water  into  steam  is  but  one  of  its  powers. 


HEAT — FIRE.  13 

Fire  and  heat  are  behind  most  of  the  operations  of  modern 
life. 

As  we  open  the  door  of  the  house  we  are  met  by  a  cur- 
rent  of  warm  air  rushing  out  into  the  chilly  evening.  It  is 
the  last  of  October,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  day  windows 
ar>d  doors  have  been  left  wide  open  to  let  in  all  the  light  and 
warmth  of  the  bright  sunshine.  But  it  is  evening  now,  and 
the  sun  has  long  since  sunk  below  the  horizon ;  it  no  longer 
gives  us  any  of  its  heat.  All  night  the  air  will  grow  colder 
and  colder,  and  were  we  unprotected  by  clothing  we  should 
suffer  from  the  chill  atmosphere.  Even  coverings  are  not 
sufficient  to  keep  the  heat  of  our  bodies  from  passing  off  into 
the  air,  just  as  the  warm  air  rushed  out  through  the  open 
hall  door.  It  has  been  found  necessary  to  warm  the  air  in 
our  houses  so  that  the  bodily  heat,  which  we  need  to  sustain 
life,  may  not  so  easily  be  lost.  The  heat  which  the  sun  fur- 
nishes us  is  called  natural  heat;  that  which  is  produced  by 
the  skill  of  man  is  called  artificial  heat. 

This  artificial  heat  is  used  for  a  fourth  purpose  also.  As 
we  have  seen,  it  makes  steam  for  the  locomotive,  the  steam- 
boat, and  other  engines ;  it  is  necessary  in  the  manufacture 
of  tools  and  various  utensils  out  of  iron  and  other  metals; 
and  it  warms  our  houses  and  schools,  our  offices  and  stores. 
It  is  also  used  everywhere  and  by  everybody  in  cooking. 
Had  we  no  fires  or  artificial  heat  of  some  sort  we  should  have 
to  eat  our  meat  and  fish  raw ;  we  could  only  mix  our  meal 
and  flour  with  cold  water,  which  would  not  be  palatable  to 
most  of  us;  our  vegetables,  uncooked,  would  fail  to  satisfy 
us;  and  many  of  us  would  find  ourselves  limited  to  fruits 
and  nuts,  which  would  be  hardly  sufficient  to  keep  us  in  good 
health,  to  say  the  least. 

Have  yon  ever  thought  that  men  or  human  beings  are 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 


very  much  like  other  animals  ?  Have  you  ever  tried  to  find 
out  the  important  differences  between  man  and  what  are 
called  the  lower  animals?  One  of  these  differences  comes 
right  in  the  line  of  our  present  thought.  Dogs  are  fond  of 
meat,  and  so  are  most  people ;  but  dogs  do  not  need  to  have 
their  meat  cooked  as  we  do.  Horses  whinny  for  their  oats 
at  night  and  morning;  but  they  would  not  care  for  our  favor- 
ite breakfast  dish  of  cooked  oatmeal. 
Bears  are  partly  protected  from  the 
cold  by  their  thick,  shaggy  cover- 
ings of  fur ;  but  even  in  very  cold 
regions  they  have  no  warm  fire 
around  which  to  gather.  Man  is 
the  "only  fire-making  animal,"  and 
to  this  fact  he  owes  much  of  his 
power. 

If  we  read  the  history  of  the 
world,  and  especially  the  story  of 
the  earlier  life  of  the  different  na- 
tions and  peoples,  we  shall  find  that 
fire  was  considered  by  them  all  to  be 
one  of  the  greatest  blessings  belong- 
ing to  man.  They  thought  that  the 
gods  whom  they  worshipped  also 

treasured  fire.  The  Romans  offered  sacrifices  to  Vesta,  the 
goddess  of  the  fireplace,  and  it  was  the  duty  of  the  vestal  vir- 
gins to  keep  a  fire  always  burning  on  her  altar.  Among  the 
Greeks  the  hearth  or  fireplace  itself  was  an  object  or  worship. 
These  early  peoples  regarded  the  blessing  of  fire  as  so 
great  that  they  believed  it  must  have  originally  belonged  to 
the  gods  alone.  Many  of  them  had  traditions  that  the  gods 
did  not  permit  men  in  the  earliest  ages  to  have  any  knowl- 


A    VESTAL    VIRGIN. 


HEAT — FIRE,  15 

edge  or  use  of  fire.  Myths  or  stories  have  been  found 
among  the  people  of  Australia,  Asia,  Europe,  and  America, 
telling  how  fire  had  been  stolen  from  the  gods  and  brought 
down  to  men.  The  best  of  these  stories  is  that  of  the  Greek, 
Prometheus,  whose  name  means  "forethought."  This  an- 
cient mythical  hero  was  supposed  to  have  been  the  great 
friend  and  benefactor  of  mankind.  But  of  all  his  gifts  to 
men  the  most  valuable  was  the  gift  of  fire.  According  to 
the  old  myth,  Prometheus  went  up  into  Olympus,  the  Greek 
heaven,  and  was  welcomed  by  the  gods.  While  there  he 
examined  the  fire  of  the  gods  and  thought  what  a  blessing  it 
would  be  to  mankind.  Acting  under  the  advice  of  Athene, 
the  goddess  of  wisdom,  he  stole  some  fire  from  the  sun  god, 
concealed  it  in  a  hollow  reed,  and  brought  it  back  with  him 
to  earth. 

In  early  times  there  were  no  matches,  and  if  a  fire  went 
out  it.  was  not  easy  to  kindle  it  again.  Probably  the  people 
wondered  how  the  fire  was  made  for  the  first  time.  They 
knew  that  it  must  have  been  obtained  somehow,  from  some- 
where ;  and  out  of  this  grew  the  story  of  Prometheus  among 
the  Greeks,  and  of  the  other  fire  stealers,  the  heroes  of  other 
peoples  in  all  parts  of  the  globe. 

But  all  these  stories  of  the  fire  of  the  gods  and  the  way  in 
which  human  beings  were  able  to  get  hold  of  this  priceless 
blessing  we  now  know  to  be  only  myths.  Students  of  early 
history  are  agreed  that  all  men,  everywhere,  and  at  all  times, 
have  had  the  knowledge  and  the  use  of  fire.  Great  differences 
exist  between  civilized  and  uncivilized  people ;  the  savages 
of  interior  Africa  seem  almost  to  belong  to  a  different  species 
of  being  from  the  cultured  people  of  Europe  and  America ; 
but  all  are  able  to  warm  themselves  and  to  cook  their  food 
by  means  of  burning  fuel. 


16  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

Civilized  man  has  better  arrangements  for  kindling  his 
fire,  better  means  of  obtaining  more  good  from  it,  and  better 
ways  for  avoiding  the  smoke  and  other  unpleasant  features 
than  has  uncivilized  man.  A  savage  would  not  understand 
the  modern  chimney  nor  a  kitchen  range.  He  would  be  ut- 
terly at  a  loss  to  comprehend  our  modes  of  heating  by  the 
hot-air  furnace  or  the  coils  of  steam  pipes.  The  forest  pro- 
vides him  with  all  the  wood  that  he  needs  for  his  fire,  and 
he  has  little  or  no  knowledge  of  coal  or  oil  or  gas. 

Thus  you  and  I  are  far  in  advance  of  the  poor,  half  clad, 
half  warmed  savage;  we  are  also  in  far  more  comfortable 
circumstances  than  were  our  ancestors  who  came  from 
Europe  to  America  two  or  three  hundred  years  ago.  In  all 
the  ages  of  the  past  until  within  a  few  hundred  years  little 
advance  had  been  made  in  the  methods  of  obtaining  artificial 
heat.  But  since  Columbus  set  sail  from  Spain,  since  John 
Cabot  first  saw  the  shores  of  this  continent,  since  John  Smith 
made  friends  with  the  Indians  in  Virginia,  and  William  Brad- 
ford guided  the  lives  of  the  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth,  discover- 
ies and  inventions  have  changed  most  of  our  habits  and  cus- 
toms as  well  as  our  surroundings.  The  methods  of  heating 
our  houses  and  cooking  our  food  have  altered  greatly,  and 
we  cannot  fail  to  be  interested  in  comparing  the  simple 
wood  fires  of  long  ago  with  the  complex  ways  in  which  heat 
is  now  evenly  distributed  wherever  it  is  wanted.  For  a  lit- 
tle while,  then,  let  us  turn  our  thoughts  to  the  primitive 
forms  of  heating  and  cooking  which  were  common  three  cen- 
turies ago,  and  see  in  what  ways  the  modern  systems  of  pro- 
viding artificial  heat  have  been  developed. 


CHAPTER  II. 
INDIAN  HOMES. 

OUR  homes  and  their  surroundings  are  so  familiar  to  us 
that  it  is  hard  for  us  to  realize  that  our  country  was  not 
always  as  it  is  now.  Let  us  think  about  it.  Have  you  seen 
any  changes  near  where  you  live  since  you  can  remember? 
Have  any  new  houses  been  built?  Do  you  know  of  any  old 
buildings  that  have  been  torn  down  in  order  that  larger  or 
better  ones  might  take  their  places?  Have  you  watched  men 
making  a  new  street  or  road,  or,  perhaps,  working  upon  an 
old  road  to  make  it  better?  If  you  have,  then  you  can  think 
back  to  a  time  when  some  house  that  you  can  see  to-day  was 
not  there ;  a  time  when  there  were  not  so  many  roads  nor 
such  good  streets  as  now.  Can  you  think  back -still  further 
to  a  time  when  the  house  in  which  you  live  had  not  been 
built?  when  the  street  in  front  of  your  house  had  not  been 
made?  Can  you  imagine  a  time,  still  further  back,  when 
none  of  the  houses  in  your  city  or  village  were  standing? 
when  there  were  no  streets  at  all  within  sight  of  the  place 
where  you  live?  Then  it  will  not  be  so  very  hard  to  think 
of  the  time,  four  hundred  years  ago,  when  'there  were  no 
houses  of  wood,  brick,  or  stone,  such  as  we  now  see,  any- 
where in  this  country ;  when  there  was  not  a  carriage  road 
nor  a  street  of  any  kind  in  the  whole  United  States.  We 
will  try  to  imagine  how  this  country  looked  before  any  white 
people  lived  in  it,  and  before  the  cities  and  towns  and  vil- 

2 


1 8  AMERICAN    INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

lages  and  farms  and  ranches,  that  are  so  familiar  to  us,  had 
been  begun. 

Four  hundred  years  ago  John  Cabot  sailed  across  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  and  saw  this  country  for  the  first  time.  As 
his  little  vessel  moved  along  the  coast,  he  looked  upon  bays 
and  mouths  of  rivers  which  were  very  much  as  they  are  to- 
day. The  peninsulas,  the  capes,  and  the  islands  were  in  the 
same  places  that  they  now  are.  They  were,  however,  almost 
entirely  covered  with  woods.  Here  and  there  were  fields  of 
grass,  through  which  blue  streams  were  flowing;  but  the 
larger  part  of  what  is  now  New  England  and  the  other  At- 
lantic States  was  covered  with  thick  forests.  The  trees  were 
large  and  close  together ;  their  branches  had  never  been  cut 
off,  and  grew  close  to  the  ground.  Shrubs  and  bushes  filled 
all  the  space  that  was  left  between  the  larger  trees,  and  made 
it  almost  impossible  for  any  one  to  pass  through.  Wild  ani- 
mals had  made  paths  for  themselves,  but  if  people  had  at- 
tempted to  use  these  paths  they  would  have  been  obliged  to 
get  down  on  their  hands  and  knees  and  crawl  through  them. 
The  rivers  and  the  smaller  streams  of  water  were  the  best 
roads  in  those  days ;  for  unless  they  were  shallow  or  flowed 
too  swiftly  down  the  rapids,  boats  could  quite  easily  be 
pushed  up  stream  as  well  as  be  carried  down  by  the  current. 

In  this  country,  covered  with  forests,  were  there  only 
wild  animals?  Were  there  no  human  beings:  no  men,  nor 
women,  nor  children?  No  white  men  lived  in  New  Eng- 
land; the  city  of  New  York  had  not  even  been  thought  of; 
Baltimore  and  Savannah  were  impassable  forests;  and  the 
great  West  was  only  a  hunting  ground.  But  the  red  men 
or  American  Indians  did  live  in  this  country  and  were  its 
only  owners. 

The  Indians  did  not  live  in  many  roomed  houses  of  wood 


HEAT — INDIAN    HOMES.  1Q 

or  brick  or  stone ;  they  never  built  roads  or  streets ;  nor  did 
they  ride  in  carriages.  If  they  wished  to  go  from  one  place 
to  another  they  used  canoes  on  the  rivers  as  far  as  they  could ; 
if  they  wished  to  cross  the  land  from  one  stream  to  another 
they  made  a  foot  path,  called  a  trail.  Sometimes  a  trail  was 
broad  enough  to  permit  a  canoe  to  be  carried.  Thus  the  In- 
dians could  travel  long  distances  without  growing  tired  from 
much  walking. 

The  Indians  must  have  had  dwelling  places  to  protect 
them  from  the  cold  and  the  storms  which  were  as  common 
then  as  now.  Many  tribes  of  Indians  were  in  the  habit  of 
moving  frequently  from  place  to  place,  and  for  this  reason 
their  homes  were  not  built  for  permanent  use,  but  were 
made  of  materials  that  could  be  quickly  put  together.  The 
Indians  that  lived  in  Canada  and  New  England  were  more 
roving  than  those  of  New  York ;  therefore  their  houses  were 
very  simple.  They  were  long  and  narrow,  with  rounded  roofs, 
and  covered  on  the  tops  and  sides  with  matting  that  could 
be  readily  removed. 

The  Iroquois,  dwelling  south  of  Lake  Ontario,  were  a  lit- 
tle more  civilized  than  their  neighbors,  and  built  more  per- 
manent houses.  Their  dwellings  were  very  long,  from  one 
to  two  hundred  feet  in  length,  and  usually  about  thirty  feet 
wide.  The  frames  were  made  of  long  sticks  or  poles,  set 
firmly  in  the  ground ;  other  poles  formed  the  roof,  with  two 
sloping  sides,  over  which  were  laid  large  strips  of  elm  bark. 
These  houses  had  a  door  at  each  end,  with  no  windows,  and 
light  entered  only  through  the  doors  and  the  large  openings 
in  the  roof.  The  openings  were  made  at  frequent  intervals 
to  allow  the  escape  of  the  smoke  from  the  fires  directly 
beneath. 

Although  the  Indian  dwellings  varied  greatly  among  the 


20 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 


different  tribes,  in  none  of  them  did  a  family  live  by  itself 
Usually  twenty  or  more  families  dwelt  together  in  each  of 
the  Iroquois  "long  houses."  A  building  planned  for  twenty 
families  had  ten  stalls  or  open  closets  as  they  might  be 
called,  arranged  along  each  side.  An  open  passageway  ran 
the  entire  length  of  the  house  from  door  to  door,  in  which 
were  built  five  fires  at  equal  distances.  Each  fire  belonged 

to  the  four  families 
whose  stalls — two  on 
each  side  —  opened 
directly  toward  it. 

Now  let  us  im- 
agine ourselves  in 
one  of  these  long 
houses,  and  let  us 
try  to  see  just  how 
everything  looked. 
Let  us  suppose  that 
it  is  a  little  after 
sunset  on  a  cold, 
IROQUOIS  LONG  HOUSE.  stormy  winter  even- 

ing.    We    are    glad 

to  get  under  any  covering  in  order  to  be  somewhat  protected 
from  the  biting  wind  and  the  stinging  sleet.  We  have  been 
welcomed  by  the  Indians,  have  been  made  the  guests  of 
one  of  the  families,  and  have  been  given  something  to  eat. 
Supper  over,  we  are  able  to  look  about  us  and  to  think 
whether  we  should  consider  ourselves  cosy  and  comfortable 
if  this  were  our  own  home. 

The  first  thing  that  we  observe  is  the  fire,  as  it  snaps  and 
hisses.  How  warm  it  is,  and  how  good  it  feels  as  we  toast 
our  cold  hands  and  feet  before  it !  But  somehow  we  begin 


HEAT— INDIAN   HOMES.  21 

to  wish  that  we  were  back  beside  our  own  stove.  Then  our 
eyes  would  not  ache  from  the  smoke.  Why  does  it  not  go 
out  at  the  top?  It  tries  to,  but  the  wind  blows  it  back  into 
the  house  so  that,  at  times,  it  fills  every  corner,  blinding  our 
eyes,  stifling  our  breath,  and  covering  us  with  cinders  from 
head  to  foot. 

But  as  we  sit,  Turk  fashion,  squatted  before  the  fire,  we 
notice  that  we  are  being  slowly  covered  up  by  something  else 
than  cinders.  Although  all  the  smoke  does  not  go  out  at  the 
opening,  it  seems  as  if  almost  all  the  snow  did  come  in.  At 
times  it  falls  gently,  slowly  sifting  into  every  fold  in  our 
clothing,  into  our  eyes  and  ears,  and  gradually  covering 
everything  with  its  mantle  of  white.  At  other  times  a 
strong  gust  of  wind  sweeps  down  into  the  room,  almost  put- 
ting out  the  fire,  and  chilling  us  through  and  through  in 
spite  of  the  roaring  blaze. 

Now  cold  shivers  begin  to  run  down  our  backs.  Besides, 
our  limbs  are  growing  tired  from  sitting  so  long  in  the  un- 
usual position.  So  we  think  that  we  will  try  a  change,  and 
we  decide  to  lie  down  at  full  length  with  our  faces  to  the 
fire.  It  is  not  easy  to  move  into  the  new  position,  because 
our  neighbors  are  crowded  so  close  to  us ;  but  we  finally  suc- 
ceed. In  a  very  few  minutes  our  feet  begin  to  ache  with  the 
cold  and  our  faces  seem  burning  up  with  the  heat.  Shall 
we  change  again,  and  for  a  time  let  our  heads  get  cool  while 
we  warm  our  feet?  We  cannot  keep  this  up  all  night,  but 
we  would  need  to  do  so  if  we  tried  to  be  really  comfortable. 

In  this  way  the  Indians  lived.  They  had  no  beds,  no 
separate  chambers,  no  kitchen,  dining  room,  nor  parlor.  In 
this  one  room,  if  it  can  be  called  a  room,  all  the  families  ate 
and  slept.  Around  these  fires  they  spent  their  time  while 
in  the  house.  Here  they  lay  stretched  out  for  sleep,  with 


22 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 


skins  of  animals  under  them  as  a  slight  protection  from  the 
damp  ground.  They  did  not  spend  much  time  in  changing 
their  clothes,  for  they  practically  wore  the  same  night  and 
day.  They  really  needed  only  the  roof  to  cover  them  and 
the  fire  to  warm  them.  Though  the  fire  warmed  them  un- 
evenly, though  the  smoke  was  uncomfortable,  though  the 
cold,  the  snow,  and  the  rain  came  in  at  the  opening  and  all 
around  the  sides  of  the  house,  yet  the  Indians  had  a  cover- 
ing, they  had  a  fire, 
and  they  were  to  a 
great  degree  content- 
ed and  happy. 

They  were  used  to 
this  life;  they  knew 
no  other.  Even  after 
the  white  men  came 
and  the  Indians  had 
seen  them  in  their 
houses,  they  had  no 
desire  to  change  their 
mode  of  living. 
"Ugh!"  grunted  an 

old  redskin,  as  he  studied  the  white  man's  ways; — "ugh! 
Injun  make  a  little  fire  and  set  close  to  him;  white  man 
make  a  big  fire  and  set  way  off." 

The  Indians  needed  food  as  well  as  covering.  Their 
cooking  must  have  been  quite  different  from  that  which  is 
done  on  a  large  modern  kitchen  range.  They  had  no  domes- 
tic animals  except  the  dog;  no  cows  nor  pigs,  no  hens  nor 
turkeys.  They  were  compelled  to  hunt  wild  animals  if 
they  wanted  meat.  This  meat  they  usually  broiled ;  not  on 
a  broiler  or  a  toaster,  but  upon  slats  or  strips  of  wood  placed 


INDIAN    METHOD   OF    BROILING. 


HEAT — INDIAN   HOMES.  23 

above  the  fire.  Fish  was  cooked  in  the  same  way.  Some- 
times they  boiled  the  meat.  For  this  they  usually  had 
wooden  dishes,  which  could  not  be  put  over  the  fire.  These 
were  filled  with  water,  into  which  red  hot  stones  were  placed. 
When  the  water  had  been  heated  the  food  was  put  in  it  to 
be  cooked. 

We  should  now  have  some  idea  of  the  manner  of  life 
among  the  Indians.  We  have  learned  a  little  about  their 
houses  and  their  habits;  we  have  seen  how  they  made  their 
fires  and  did  their  cooking ;  we  have  heard  about  their  trails 
and  their  canoes,  and  the  way  in  which  they  traveled  from 
place  to  place.  Thus  lived  the  American  Indians  or  red 
men  three  or  four  hundred  years  ago,  and  thus  they  would 
probably  be  living  to-day  if  Columbus  or  some  one  else  had 
not  discovered  America;  if  the  English,  the  French,  and  the 
Spaniards  had  not  come  across  the  ocean ;  if  farms  and  vil- 
lages, towns  and  cities  had  not  sprung  up  all  over  the  coun- 
try ;  if  the  white  men  had  not  taken  much  of  the  land  over 
which  the  Indians  had  roamed  for  centuries ;  and  if  the  In- 
dians had  not  learned  much  from  the  white  men  which  has 
greatly  changed  their  conditions. 


CHAPTER   III. 

COLONIAL  HOMES. 

THE  Indians,  seated  in  their  long  community  houses 
around  their  wood  fires,  ranging  over  their  hunting  ground 
seeking  fresh  meat,  or  stealthily  creeping  through  the  fo-rest 
hoping  to  surprise  some  human  enemy,  at  last  found  that 
they  could  no  longer  have  this  entire  continent  to  them- 
selves. More  than  four  hundred  years  ago  Europeans  dis- 
covered the  "  New  World  "  and  began  to  explore  it.  More 
than  three  hundred  years  ago  the  Spaniards  conquered  the 
Indians  in  Mexico  and  made  a  settlement  in  Florida.  Nearly 
three  hundred  years  ago  the  French  began  to  build  homes  in 
Canada,  the  Dutch  in  New  York,  and  the  English  in  Virginia 
and  New  England. 

These  white  men,  with  their  wives  and  children,  crossed 
the  Atlantic  Ocean  in  the  small  vessels  of  those  days,  and 
built  villages  and  cleared  the  land  for  farms.  Their  settle- 
ments were  generally  near  the  seacoast  or  the  great  rivers. 
The  pioneers  were  thus  nearer  one  another,  and  could  the 
more  readily  hasten  to  each  other's  assistance  in  case  of  need. 

The  newcomers  were  not  alike  in  appearance  or  habits. 
The  French  had  different  customs  from  the  Spaniards. 
They  not  only  spoke  a  different  language,  but  they  wore 
different  kinds  of  clothes,  tilled  .he  soil  in  a  different  way, 
and  lived  in  houses  of  different  styles.  The  Dutch  were 
quite  unlike  the  English.  Then,  again,  the  life  of  th  Eng- 
lish in  Virginia  was  different  from  life  in  New  England :  in 


HEAT — COLONIAL   HOMES. 


the  former  colony  some  of  the  settlers  were  wealthy,  owned 
large  plantations,  and  lived  at  long  distances  from  one  another ; 
in  the  latter  the  colonists  had  more  nearly  equal  possessions, 
occupied  smaller  farms,  and  lived  close  together. 

Although  the  colonists  thus  had  differing  habits  and  cus- 
toms, in  many  respects  they  were  much  alike.  They  had 
come  to  a  country  where  everything  was  new.  No  mills  nor 
factories  were  run  by  the  streams ;  no  shops  made  clothing 
or  farming  tools ;  no  stores 
sold  furniture  or  groceries. 
Everything  that  the  colon- 
ists needed  must  be  either 
brought  across  the  ocean  or 
roughly  made  by  them- 
selves. Of  course  only  the 
rich  could  afford  the  ex- 
pense of  bringing  heavy 
articles  three  thousand 
miles  in  sailing  vessels; 
therefore  a  large  part  of 

what  the  colonists  wore  or  ate  or  used  for  furniture  or  build- 
ings was  rude  and  of  home  manufacture.  A  description  of 
the  mode  of  life  in  one  section  of  the  country  will  give  some- 
thing of  an  idea  of  how  the  colonists  lived  in  other  sections. 

Almost  the  first  thing  that  was  necessary  for  the  colonist 
to  do,  as  soon  as  he  had  determined  where  he  was  to  live, 
was  to  build  his  house ;  he  began  at  once  to  fell  the  trees. 
The  axe  was  one  of  the  most  important  of  his  possessions 
and  he  soon  learned  to  use  it  with  great  skill.  If  he  needed 
his  house  immediately  he  usually  built  it  of  rough,  unsplit 
logs,  filling  the  spaces  with  clay  and  covering  the  roof  with 
thatch. 


PLYING  THE  AXE 


26  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

There  is  a  story  told  of  a  log  house  which  was  built  in 
the  early  part  of  one  winter.  The  trees  were  cut  when  their 
trunks  were  frozen,  and  were  laid  in  proper  position  to  form 
the  sides  of  the  cabin.  The  stone  chimney  was  built,  and 
the  house  was  ready.  Day  after  day  the  great  fireplace  sent 
out  its  heat  into  the  single  room,  until  the  sap  in  the  logs  was 
melted  and  little  shoots  with  tender  leaves  began  to  form, 
which  in  time,  at  the  ends  of  the  logs  nearest  the  fire,  grew 
into  long  twigs.  The  logs  had  remained  frozen  on  the  out- 
side, but  had  thawed  within — a  pleasant  suggestion  of  the 
cheer  and  comfort  found  in  a  well  warmed  house. 

If  the  newcomer  had  neighbors  who  could  shelter  his 
family  for  a  time,  he  would  split  the  logs  and  make  a  house 
somewhat  tighter  and  better  protected  from  cold  and  storm. 
After  a  time  lumber  mills  were  built  and  the  logs  were 
sawed  into  planks  and  boards.  Many  of  the  earliest  New 
England  houses  contained  but  one  room  with  an  attic.  The 
house  was  entered  directly  from  out-of-doors,  and  was  lighted 
by  windows  set  with  very  small  panes  of  glass  or  oiled  paper. 
In  one  corner  was  the  staircase,  which  sometimes  was  merely 
a  ladder  or  perhaps  a  few  cleats  nailed  on  the  framework. 
The  furniture  was  meagre  and  most  of  it  rudely  made. 

Can  we  see  any  improvement  in  this  rough  cottage  over 
the  Indian  long  house?  It  was  more  permanent;  it  was 
tighter  and  warmer ;  it  was  the  abode  of  one  family ;  it  was 
a  real  home.  In  another  respect  the  comfort  of  the  log  cabin 
was  greatly  increased:  it  had  an  enclosed  fireplace  and  a 
chimney. 

Some  years  ago  fireplaces  were  seldom  seen  in  our  dwel- 
lings. In  many  of  the  old  houses,  in  which  the  fireplaces  were 
as  old  as  the  houses  themselves,  they  were  never  used  and 
were  either  boarded  up  or  carefully  screened  from  view.  But 


HEAT — COLONIAL   HOMES. 


more  recently  they  have  come  into  use  again,  and  now  seldom 
is  a  well  arranged  house  built  without  one  or  more  open  fire- 
places. We  are  then — most  of  us — acquainted  with  this  small 
opening  in  the  side  or  the  corner  of  the  room,  in  which  small 
logs  of  wood  burn  upon  the  andirons  or  a  bed  of  coals  upon 
the  grate.  However,  this  modern  grate  or  hearth  is  very 
unlike  the  huge  fireplace  of  one  and  two  centuries  ago. 

In  the  houses  in  which  your  great-grandmother  and  her 
mother  and  grandmother  and  great-grandmother  lived,  the 
fireplace  was  not  con- 
fined to  a   corner   of 
the  room,  nor  did  it 
burn  sticks  fifteen  or 
eighteen  inches  long. 
In  the  oldest    house 
now  standing    in 
Rhode  Island  the  fire- 


A    COLONIAL    FIREPLACE. 


place  was  nearly  ten 

feet  long  and  about  four  feet  in  depth.  Its  back  and  sides 
were  of  stone,  nearly  two  feet  thick,  and  the  chimney,  thirteen 
feet  by  six,  did  not  begin  to  narrow,  as  it  went  upward,  until 
it  reached  the  roof.  This  fire  place  made  an  excellent  play- 
house when  the  fire  was  out,  and  children  found  great  delight 
in  watching  the  stars  from  their  seat  in  the  chimney  corner. 
At  first  this  open  fireplace,  with  the  fire  burning  in  the 
centre,  was  the  only  means  for  cooking  which  our  ancestors 
possessed.  When  they  were  able  to  build  larger  houses, 
with  two,  four,  or  eight  rooms,  even  two  stories  high,  they 
still  had  the  great  hearths ;  not  one  alone,  but  one  in  each 
of  the  principal  rooms,  and  sometimes  in  the  chambers.  As 
time  went  on,  stone  or  brick  ovens  were  built  by  'the  side  of 
the  fireplaces,  and  frequently  tin  or  "  Dutch "  ovens  were 


28  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

brought  across  the  ocean  and  used  in  case  of  need.  Let  us 
look  into  one  of  these  old  houses  on  a  Saturday,  or  "  baking 
day,"  and  notice  some  of  the  pleasures  and  inconveniences  of 
cooking  in  olden  time. 

When  Mother  Brown  rises  at  half  past  four  in  the  morn- 
ing she  dresses  quickly,  for  the  coals,  which  had  been  care- 
fully covered  up,  have  given  out  little  heat  during  the  bitter, 
cold  night.  Before  she  can  wash  her  hands  and  face  she 
must  start  up  the  fire,  for  all  the  water  in  the  house  is 
frozen.  She  carefully  rakes  off  the  ashes  from  the  coals 
which  are  still  "alive,"  deftly  lays  on  them  a  few  shavings 
and  pieces  of  bark,  and,  when  they  begin  to  burn  brightly, 
piles  upon  them  small  and  then  larger  sticks  of  wood.  Now 
Father  Brown  and  John,  the  hired  man,  who  have  come  in 
from  doing  the  chores,  lift  on  to  the  fire  one  of  the  six  foot 
logs,  three  or  four  feet  in  circumference,  which  have  been 
previously  brought  in.  Then  Mother  Brown  calls  the  chil- 
dren. Ruth,  the  eldest,  is  already  nearly  dressed ;  Mehitable, 
just  in  her  teens,  is  soon  ready ;  while  Polly,  "  the  baby,"  near- 
ly eight  years  old,  finds  it  hard  work  to  crawl  out  from  between 
the  sheets.  The  boys  are  even  harder  to  rouse,  for  mother 
has  to  call  Nathaniel,  aged  eleven,  three  times  before  he 
appears,  and  Joseph,  two  years  younger,  is  slower  still. 

We  will  not  stop  to  notice  the  breakfast,  which  is  eaten, 
and  the  dishes  washed,  long  before  the  sun  rises.  Now  the 
outside  door  opens  and  in  comes  the  old  white  horse,  hauling 
a  great  backlog.  John  unhitches  the  chain  and  rolls  the  log 
upon  the  fire.  This  done,  the  horse  goes  out  at  the  door 
opposite  the  one  he  entered.  Father  Brown  brings  in  several 
armfuls  of  brush  and  heavier  sticks,  and  throws  them  down 
near  the  fireplace. 

As  this  is  baking  day,  the  oven  must  be  made  ready 


HEAT — COLONIAL  HOMES.  2«j 

The  great  brick  oven,  one  side  of  which  makes  also  one  side 
of  the  fireplace,  is  filled  with  the  brush  and  light  wood, 
which  is  soon  burning  briskly.  For  an  hour  the  fire  is  kept 
up,  new  wood  being  thrown  in  when  necessary;  then  it  is 
allowed  to  go  out.  Meanwhile  Mother  Brown  and  Ruth  are 
busy — mixing  and  rolling,  sifting  rye  and  Indian  meal,  stir- 


HAULING   IN    A    BACKLOG. 


ring  up  eggs,  and  adding  milk  and  butter.  By  the  time  the 
oven  is  heated  the  cooks  are  ready  to  use  it ;  and  Mehitable 
rakes  out  the  coals  and  ashes  with  a  long  stick,  shaped  like 
a  shepherd's  crook. 

First  the  pans  of  "rye  'n*  Injun"  bread  are  laid  in  the 
oven,  away  back  at  the  farther  end.  Then  the  "  pandowdy  " 
or  great  apple  pudding  and  the  "  Injun  "  pudding  are  placed 
in  front  of  the  bread.  While  the  bread  and  the  puddings 
are  baking,  two  tin  ovens  are  brought  in  and  prepared  for 
use.  These  Dutch  ovens  are  mere  sheets  of  metal  curved 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 


around  into  more  than  ha-f  a  circle,  with  the  opening  placed 
toward  the  fire.  A  long"  iron  rod  runs  through  from  side  to 
side  of  the  oven  on  which  the  meat  for  roast  is  to  be  spitted. 
Mother  Brown  removes  one  of  the  spits  and  thrusts  it 
through  a  piece  of  beef,  and  in  the  same  way  spits  a  fat 
turkey  on  the  other.  Here  is  work  for  little  Polly,  upon 
whom  rests  the  task  of  frequently  turning  the  spit  so  that 
the  meat  is  evenly  roasted. 

Later  in  the  day,  when  the  bread  is  baked,  the  oven  is 
heated  again  and  filled  with  pies — apple,  mince,  squash,  and 

pumpkin.  By  the 
time  these  are  baked 
the  day  is  done.  The 
coals  on  the  hearth 
are  covered  with 
ashes  and  the  tired 
cooks  gladly  retire 
for  the  night. 

On  other  days 
meat  is  boiled  in  pots 
that  are  hung  from 
the  crane,  a  long, 
swinging,  iron  rod 

wiiich  reaches  directly  over  the  fire  or  may  be  turned  out 
into  the  room.  Upon  the  hearth  potatoes  are  baked,  corn  is 
roasted,  and  other  primitive  forms  of  cooking  are  used.  We 
have  made  a  long  step  from  the  Indian's  open  fire  and  his 
simple  cooking  to  the  brick  and  tin  ovens  and  the  metal  pots 
and  kettles  of  our  ancestors ;  but  is  it  not  a  longer  step  to 
the  coal,  oil,  and  gas  ranges  of  to-day? 


COOKING  IN  A  COLONIAL  KITCHEN. 


CHAPTER    IV. 
CHIMNEYS. 

REMEMBERING  our  experience  in  the  Indian  long  house— 
the  discomfort  of  the  smoke  and  the  opening  in  the  roof — we 
shall  understand  another  great  improvement  in  the  colonist's 
house.  Even  the  log  cabin  had  its  chimney.  The  rising 
column  of  hot  air  from  the  fire,  carrying  the  smoke  with  it, 
is  confined  between  walls  of  stone  or  brick,  and  the  room  is 
fairly  free  from  smoke.  Why  did  not  the  Indian  build  a 
chimney?  The  temporary  nature  of  his  dwelling  may  have 
been  a  partial  reason;  but  the  red  man's  lack  of  civilization 
was  doubtless  the  most  effective  cause.  Even  many  so-called 
civilized  nations  built  their  houses  without  chimneys,  and  in 
fact  this  convenience  is  but  a  few  centuries  old. 

The  ancient  Greeks  are  praised  for  their  high  civilization, 
and  yet  they  were  little  better  off  than  the  savage  Indians 
of  the  New  World  in  the  methods  of  heating  their  houses. 
Neither  the  Greeks  nor  the  Romans  had  chimneys  for  their 
dwellings.  It  is  true  that  Greece  and  Italy  are  warmer 
countries  than  England  or  most  of  the  United  States,  and 
doors  and  windows  could  be  left  open  with  less  discomfort 
than  with  us.  Much  of  the  smoke  might  thus  escape,  but 
enough  doubtless  remained  to  be  unpleasant.  The  Greeks 
refrained  from  carving  the  rooms  in  which  fires  were  built, 
for  they  realized  that  such  ornamentation  would  soon  be  dis- 
colored by  soot. 

After  Greece  had  been  conquered  by  the    Romans  and 


32      .  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

Rome  had  been  overthrown  by  the  Germanic  tribes,  much  of 
the  ancient  civilization  was  lost  and  the  "  Dark  Ages  "  fol- 
lowed. During  this  period  the  people  throughout  Europe 
made  their  fires  in  holes  in  the  centre  of  the  room,  under  an 
opening  in  the  roof— just  as  we  have  seen  that  the  Indians 
did.  When  the  family  went  to  bed  at  night  they  covered 
the  hole  in  the  roof  with  a  board  and  also  threw  ashes  over 
the  coals,  to  prevent  the  wooden  house  from  catching  fire 
while  they  slept.  It  was  the  custom  in  every  town,  for  many 
centuries,  to  ring  the  curfew  or  "  cover-fire  "  bell  each  night, 
warning  the  inhabitants  to  cover  their  fires,  put  out  their 
lights,  and  go  to  bed.  i 

The  first  chimneys  were  probably  built  in  Northern  Italy 
about  seven  hundred  years  ago.  The  story  is  told  that  the 
Lord  of  Padua  went  to  Rome  in  1368  and  found  no  chim- 
ney in  his  hotel.  The  Romans  still  held  to  the  custom 
of  kindling  their  fires  in  openings  in  the  ground  in  the 
middle  of  the  room.  The  Lord  of  Padua,  longing  for  the 
comforts  to  which  he  was  accustomed,  sent  to  Padua  for 
carpenters  and  masons,  and  had  them  build  two  chimneys 
like  those  at  home.  On  the  top  of  these  he  had  his  coat 
of  arms  affixed. 

Gradually  chimneys  came  into  use  throughout  Europe, 
and  when  the  colonists  came  to  America  they  built  them  as 
a  matter  of  course.  As  we  have  seen,  the  fireplaces  were 
mammoth,  and  the  chimneys  therefore  were  also  of  great  size ; 
and  for  this  reason,  although  the  discomfort  from  the  smoke 
was  less  than  in  the  Indian  long  houses,  it  was  not  wholly 
avoided.  For  centuries,  however,  people  had  been  used  to 
the  smoke,  which  occasionally  poured  back  into  the  room  in- 
stead of  going  up  the  chimney,  and  it  did  not  occur  to  them, 
any  more  than  to  the  red  men,  that  it  could  be  avoided.  Not 


HEAT — CHIMNEYS.  33 

until  a  New  England  boy,  who  was  then  living  in  England, 
began  to  study  into  the  cause  of  smoking  chimneys  was  any 
relief  obtained. 

Benjamin  Thompson  was  born  in  Woburn,  Massachusetts, 
and  had  just  come  to  manhood  when  the  American  Revolution 
broke  out.  Partly  owing  to  certain  family  connections,  he 
took  the  side  of  King  George  III.,  and  went  to  England. 
After  the  war  was  over  he  went  to  Bavaria,  entered  the  ser- 
vice of  the  king,  and  became  his  chamberlain.  He  rose 
through  various  positions  until  he  became  minister  of  war, 
and  was  made  Count  Rumford.  He  remained  in  Bavaria  a 
few  years,  then  lived  for  a  time  in  England,  and  spent  his 
last  days  in  Paris. 

Both  in  Bavaria  and  in  England,  Count  Rumford  devoted 
himself  to  science  and  the  improvement  of  the  conditions  of 
his  fellow  men.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  the  steps 
that  he  took  and  the  good  that  he  did,  but  we  can  here  notice 
only  some  of  his  improvements  in  the  methods  of  heating 
houses.  As  a  scientist  he  was  asked  to  "  cure  "  smoking  chim- 
neys, and  he  succeeded  so  well  that  he  once  said  he  had 
"  cured  "  more  than  five  hundred  in  London  alone. 

He  found  out  the  simple  fact  that  smoke  will  readily  go  tip 
a  chimney,  unless  there  is  something  to  stop  it.  All  that 
was  necessary  was  to  discover  the  trouble  and  remove  it.  In 
nearly  all  of  the  five  hundred  chimneys  nothing  more  was 
needed  than  to  make  the  lower  part  of  the  chimney  and  the 
fireplace  of  the  right  form  and  size.  One  firm  of  builders 
was  kept  constantly  employed  carrying  out  his  suggestions. 
Not  only  did  he  "  cure  "  the  chimneys,  but  he  also  prevented 
the  waste  of  much  heat.  In  accordance  with  his  directions 
the  square  fireplace  was  changed  so  that  the  sides  made  a 
greater  angle  with  the  back  and  would  therefore  reflect  more 
3 


34 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 


heat  into  the  room.  He  also  made  the  space  about  the 
fire  smaller,  thus  rendering  the  air  hotter  and  therefore 
more  ready  to  rush  up  the  chimney,  carrying  more  of  the 
smoke  with  it.  Count  Rumford's  ideas  have  been  generally 
followed  since  his  day,  and  now  fireplaces  seldom  give  out 
smoke  into  the  room  while  they  furnish  more  heat. 

Count  Rumford  next  took  up  the  problem  of  improving 
stoves.  Before  we  consider  his  improvements,  however,  we 

must  note  something  about  the 
first    stoves.     Another    Massa- 
chusetts boy,  born  nearly  half 
a    century  before    Benjamin 
Thompson,   also  became  a  sci- 
entist, inventor,  and  discoverer. 
Benjamin  Franklin  was  a  trav- 
eler   and    in    many    other    re- 
spects was  like  Count  Rumford. 
But   he   chose  to  go   with    the 
colonies    when     they    revolted 
from  Great  Britain,  and  he  gave 
all   his    services   to    his  fellow 
countrymen.     A  few  years  be- 
fore  the   birth  of    Thompson,  Franklin  made  an  invention 
which   was   the  first   improved   method  of   heating   rooms, 
There   had   been   so-called  German   stoves   before  his  day, 
but  they  were  not  much  used  in  this  country. 

It  was  in  1742  that  Franklin,  while  in  Philadelphia,  de- 
vised the  "Franklin  stove"  or  "Pennsylvania  fireplace."  It 
consisted  of  iron  sides,  back  and  top,  and  was  entirely  open 
in  front.  A  flue  was  arranged  in  the  back  which  connected 
with  the  chimney  to  carry  off  the  smoke.  This  movable  fire- 
place was  designed  to  burn  wood,  comparatively  small  logs 


A   FRANKLIN    STOVE. 


HEAT — CHIMNEYS.  35 

being  used.  It  had  many  advantages  over  the  stone  fire- 
place. It  was  set  lip  nearer  the  middle  of  the  room,  thus 
sending  heat  out  in  all  directions  and  warming  the  entire 
room.  It  saved  much  of  the  heat  which  had  previously 
passed  directly  up  the  chimney  and  been  lost.  In  the  Penn- 
sylvania fireplace  this  heat  warmed  the  iron  on  the  top  of  the 
stove  and  at  the  back,  as  well  as  the  flue  itself,  all  of  which 
warmed  the  air  in  the  room.  Saving  the  heat  saved  wood 
also.  Franklin  himself  said: 

"  My  common  room,  I  know,  is  made  twice  as  warm  as 
it  used  to  be,  with  a  quarter  of  the  wood  I  formerly  consumed 
there." 

Franklin  was  offered  a  patent  for  his  device  by  the  gover- 
nor of  Pennsylvania,  but  he  declined  it.  He  declared  that 
inasmuch  as  "  we  enjoy  great  advantages  from  the  inventions 
of  others,  we  should  be  glad  of  an  opportunity  to  serve  others 
by  any  invention  of  ours."  Unfortunately,  however,  the  peo- 
ple did  not  obtain  from  his  generosity  all  the  advantages  that 
Franklin  expected,  for  a  London  iron  manufacturer  made 
some  slight  changes  in  the  pattern,  not  improving  the  stove 
in  the  least,  and  obtained  a  patent.  From  the  sale  of  these 
stoves  he  made  what  was  called  "a  small  fortune." 

Franklin's  fireplace  was  but  the  first  in  a  long  series  of 
inventions  that  have  brought  to  us  the  stove  of  to-day.  The 
great  merit  in  his  work  was  the  idea  of  giving  up  the  stone 
fireplace  for  one  of  iron.  Changes  in  the  form  and  shape  of 
the  stove  have  followed  as  a  matter  of  course.  No  special 
credit  is  due  to  any  one  else,  unless  it  be  to  Count  Rumford, 
who,  after  curing  the  chimneys,  made  a  cook  stove  with 
an  oven.  Then,  for  the  first  time  since  men  knew  how  to 
sook  over  a  fire,  cooking  could  be  carried  on  and  the  cook  be 
protected  from  the  direct  heat  of  the  fire 


30  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

Thus  we  come  to  the  modern  house  with  its  modern 
stoves.  No  longer  have  we  but  one  method  of  heating  a 
dwelling.  Sometimes  a  stove  is  set  up  in  each  of  the  rooms. 
Sometimes  a  larger  stove  is  placed  in  the  cellar,  and  this  fur- 
nace heats  air  that  is  carried  by  large  pipes  or  flues  to  the 
rooms,  where  the  heated  air  comes  out  through  registers. 
Sometimes  a  furnace  in  the  cellar  heats  water,  and  hot  water 
or  steam  is  sent  through  small  pipes,  and  passing  through 
coils  or  radiators  gives  out  heat.  Besides,  the  cooking  range 
is  found  in  most  kitchens. 

All  these  systems  of  heating  houses  exist  instead  of  the 
old-fashioned  fireplace.  Even  when  the  modern  grate  is 
built,  it  is  usual  to  find  a  register  or  steam  coil  on  the  op- 
posite side  of  the  room,  because  the  open  fire  is  apt  to  warm 
one  side  of  the  room  only.  It  is  pleasant,  however,  to  look 
into  a  blazing  fire,  and  we  are  sometimes  almost  willing  to 
have  the  heat  unevenly  distributed  if  only  we  can  watch  the 
flames. 

Some  form  of  the  stove,  however,  is  our  main  dependence, 
and  its  various  developments  have  been  due,  generally,  to  the 
desire  of  being  freed  from  the  discomforts  of  the  old  time 
methods.  Perhaps  also  the  growing  scarcity  of  wood  and 
the  discovery  of  coal  have  had  some  effect  upon  the  develop- 
ment of  the  stove ;  but  that  we  must  leave  to  another  chapter, 


CHAPTER  V. 

FUEL. 

"WHAT  do  you  burn  in  the  stoves  in  your  houses?"  was 
asked  of  a  class  of  schoolchildren  in  a  small  Pennsylvania 
town.  Hands  went  up  in  every  direction ;  one  said  "  kero- 
sene oil " ;  two  others  shouted  "  gas  " ;  a  few  replied  "  wood  " ; 
most  of  the  class  answered  "coal."  Then  the  teacher  made 
further  inquiries  to  learn  why  these  different  substances  were 
used.  The  three  who  answered  gas  and  oil  agreed  that  coal 
was  burned  in  other  stoves  in  their  houses,  but  that  oil  and 
gas  stoves  were  used  also  because  they  were  so  convenient. 

When  the  question  was  asked  why  coal  was  used,  instantly 
the  answer  was  given  that  coal  was  the  best  thing  to  burn ; 
everybody  burned  it.  Now  this  was  not  quite  true,  but  Miss 
Turner,  the  teacher,  instead  of  immediately  correcting  the 
error,  turned  to  the  pupils  who  had  answered  "wood,"  and 
inquired  why  they  used  wood.  One  said,  "We  haven't  any 
coal " ;  another  thought  that  it  was  because  wood  kindled 
more  easily  than  coal ;  a  third  was  sure  that  he  was  right — 
"We  don't  have  to  buy  wood;  coal  costs  money." 

Now  this  boy  had  the  correct  idea.  He  lived  in  the  coun- 
try, though  near  the  town.  His  father  owned  a  large  farm, 
a  part  of  which  was  still  forest  land ;  he  could  cut  his  own 
wood,  and  therefore  did  not  buy  coal.  After  a  few  more 
questions  the  teacher  discovered  that  all  those  who  burned 
wood  lived  some  little  distance  from  town. 

Then  she  turned  to  the  class  again  and  asked  them  if  they 


38  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

could  now  tell  why  the  town  families  used  coal  instead  oi 
wood.  One  said,  "We  do  not  own  forests."  Another 
thought  that  it  was  because  there  were  not  trees  enough. 
A  third  shook  his  hand  wildly  and  shouted,  "  Coal  is  cheaper 
than  wood !  "  A  shy  little  girl  ventured  to  suggest,  "  Because 
coal  is  better  than  wood;  it  lasts  longer." 

"  You  have  each  of  you  given  a  good  reason,"  Miss  Turner 
answered.  "  Coal  is  cheaper  than  wood  here  in  the  town  be- 
cause wood  is  growing  more  and  more  scarce.  Many  of  your 
parents  prefer  coal  because  with  it  the  fire  needs  less  atten- 
tion. But  the  coal  dealers  charge  more  to  carry  coal  out  into 
the  country,  and  those  who  still  own  forests  find  it  cheaper 
to  burn  their  own  wood.  What  sort  of  replies  would  I  have 
received  if  I  had  asked  the  same  questions  of  children  in 
Pennsylvania  Colony,  or  in  any  of  the  colonies,  one  hundred 
and  fifty  or  two  hundred  years  ago?  " 

The  children  had  studied  history  somewhat.  They  knew 
the  story  of  Columbus  and  his  discoveries ;  they  had  read  of 
the  Pilgrims  and  the  Puritans;  they  could  have  answered 
questions  concerning  John  Smith  and  Henry  Hudson;  and 
they  were  especially  familiar  with  William  Penn  and  the 
Quakers,  with  George  Washington  and  Braddock's  defeat. 
But  not  one  of  them  remembered  that  he  had  ever  been  told 
anything  about  the  fires  of  the  colonists. 

There  was  a  pause  for  a  time ;  then  one  boy  asked,  "  Didn't 
they  burn  just  what  we  burn  ?  "  After  another  pause  the 
shy  little  girl  asked,  "Didn't  they  have  more  forests  then 
than  now?"  Before  the  teacher  could  reply,  a  boy  said, 
"  Perhaps  they  did  not  have  any  coal." 

The  children  had  thus  thought  it  out  for  themselves,  and 
they  were  right.  Miss  Turner  then  told  them  that  it  was 
many  years  after  the  time  of  Columbus  or  Hudson  or  Penn 


HEAT — FUEL.  39 

before  coal  mines  were  discovered  in  this  country  or  coal 
used.  She  added  that  almost  all  the  country,  from  Maine  to 
Georgia  and  westward  across  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  was 
covered  with  thick  forests  when  the  colonists  crossed  the 
Altantic  Ocean. 

"What  do  you  suppose  our  ancestors  thought  of  these 
forests?  Were  they  glad  to  see  them,  or  did  they  wish  that 
they  covered  less  ground?  "  asked  the  teacher. 

Most  of  the  children  answered  that  the  forests  must  have 
been  of  great  value  to  the  colonists ;  they  would  not  have  to 
pay  anything  for  fuel. 

"Can  you  raise  vegetables  or  grain  in  the  woods?"  was 
Miss  Turner's  next  question. 

Then  the  pupils  began  to  see  that  the  forests  were  hin- 
drances as  well  as  helps.  The  teacher  told  them  that  they 
gave  the  colonists  more  wood  than  was  needed  for  fires  and 
for  lumber.  She  added  that  every  acre  of  ground  that  they 
wished  to  plant  with  Indian  corn  or  rye,  with  potatoes  or 
squashes,  must  first  be  freed  from  the  trees.  Before  the 
land  could  be  plowed  it  must  be  cleared.  If,  then,  the  trees 
furnished  more  wood  than  could  be  used,  it  was  natural  for 
the  farmer  to  burn  the  trees  and  stumps  in  the  fields. 

If  there  had  been  but  few  settlers  and  if  they  had  been 
widely  scattered  over  a  large  territory,  no  harm  would  have 
resulted.  But  the  colonists  came  over  by  the  thousands  and 
had  large  families  of  children.  By  the  time  the  country  had 
been  settled  a  hundred  years,  great  gaps  had  been  made  in 
the  forests.  A  few  of  the  most  foresighted  of  the  colonists 
began  to  think  about  the  future  and  to  wonder  what  they 
would  do  for  fuel  if  the  wood  should  give  out.  In  fact,  trees 
began  to  be  scarce  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  larger  towns, 
and  firewood  as  well  as  lumber  became  expensive. 


40  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

"Suppose  that  all  the  forests  in  this  country  had  bee%« 
destroyed,'*  the  class  was  asked,  "what  would  the  people 
have  done  for  fuel?  " 

"Used  coal,"  replied  a  boy  from  a  back  seat. 

"Yes,"  said  Miss  Turner,  "if  there  were  any  coal,  and  if 
the  colonists  knew  where  to  find  it  and  how  to  use  it.  But 
what  is  this  coal  and  where  does  it  come  from  ?  " 

"  We  owe  all  our  knowledge  of  the  origin  of  coal  to  the 
geologists,  who  have  made  a  careful  study  of  the  surface  of 
the  earth,"  continued  Miss  Turner.  "  They  tell  us  that  there 
was  a  time  when  human  beings  did  not  live  on  the  earth ;  when 
not  even  animals  that  need  to  breathe  the  air  could  exist. 
The  atmosphere  which  surrounded  the  earth  in  those  days 
was  different  from  the  air  which  we  breathe.  We  need  the 
oxygen  that  is  in  our  air  to  sustain  life ;  poor  ventilation  in 
our  rooms  or  halls  soon  renders  them  uncomfortable  and 
often  causes  our  heads  to  ache.  The  reason  for  this  is  the 
presence  in  the  air  of  too  large  a  quantity  of  a  gas  called  car- 
bonic acid  gas ;  an  extra  amount  of  it  makes  the  air  unfit  to 
breathe,  but  a  certain  amount  is  necessary  to  sustain  plant 
life. 

"  In  the  coal-forming  or  carboniferous  age  the  atmosphere 
around  the  earth  contained  less  oxygen  than  at  present  and 
great  quantities  of  carbonic  acid  gas.  For  this  reason,  as  I 
have  said,  animals  did  not  exist,  but  plants — large  shrubs, 
great  ferns,  and  huge  trees — lived  and  grew  vigorously.  If 
we  have  ever  seen  thick  woods  we  need  only  imagine  all  the 
bushes  and  trees  of  the  forest  to  be  of  enormous  size  in  order 
to  have  some  idea  of  the  vegetable  growth  of  the  carbonifer- 
ous age.  The  earth  was  preparing  vast  quantities  of  fuel  to 
be  ready,  thousands  of  years  later,  for  the  millions  of  men 
that  were  to  come. 


HEAT — FUEL.  41 

"  The  growth  of  the  forests  was  but  one  step  in  the  pre- 
paration of  coal.  The  second  step  was  the  submerging  of 
the  forests,  covering  them  with  water  as  if  at  the  bottom  of  the 
sea.  Then  the  streams  brought  gravel,  sand,  and  mud  into 
this  ocean,  and  these  were  hardened  into  clay  and  sandstone 
by  the  pressure  of  the  water,  perhaps  aided  by  the  heat  of 
the  earth  itself.  The  trees  and  ferns  were  bent  down  and 
pressed  together  and  driven  into  the  most  compact  condition 
possible. 

"  But  again  earthquakes  came  and  the  water  disappeared. 
The  layer  of  clay  and  sandstone  was  covered  with  soil  which 
became  dry  enough  to  produce  other  forests,  growing  as  rank 
as  the  first.  These  were  again  overwhelmed  and  covered 
first  with  water,  then  with  rocks  and  soil,  only  to  be  lifted 
again  for  another  growth.  This  process  was  repeated  in 
some  cases  many  times,  as  we  can  see  with  a  little  study." 

Here  Miss  Turner  stopped  and  said :  "  Next  Saturday,  if 
it  is  pleasant,  we  will  have  our  annual  spring  picnic.  We 
will  go  to  a  new  place  this  time.  We  will  try  Rowland's 
Grove,  and  then  in  the  afternoon  we  will  go  down  into  the 
Jefferson  mine  and  see  what  it  is  like." 

We  have  not  time  to  read  about  the  picnic,  nor  of  the 
interest  that  the  class  showed  before  the  appointed  Saturday, 
as  well  as  all  the  forenoon  of  that  day.  Nor  can  we  tell  how 
the  children  went  down  the  shaft  of  the  mine,  and  how  they 
were  at  first  so  quiet  that  hardly  a  word  was  said.  The 
teacher  showed  them  a  layer  of  coal  in  the  mine  which  was 
about  three  feet  thick.  Just  above  it  was  a  rock  which  was 
different  from  the  coal.  This  they  were  told  was  sandstone, 
the  hardened  sand  which  had  been  heaped  upon  the  forests 
so  many  thousand  years  before.  Then  below  the  coal  was 
another  rock  which  was  entirely  unlike  either  the  coal  or 


42 


AMERICAN    INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 


the  sandstone.  This  was  the  seat-stone,  the  rock  made  out 
of  the  soil  in  which  the  forest  had  grown.  Then  below 
this  they  found  three  more  layers,  sandstone,  coal,  and 

seat-stone,  and  so  on  until 
the  bottom  of  the  mine 
was  reached. 

By  this  time  the  chil- 
dren were  ready  to  ask 
questions. 

"Oh,  Miss  Turner, 
what  is  this  curious-look- 
ing thing  in  this  part  of 
the  seat-stone?"  asked 
one  of  the  boys. 

Miss  Turner  replied: 
"That  is  a  fossil.  It  is 
part  of  a  root  of  a  tree, 
and  has  retained  its  shape 
and  appearance  all  these 
thousands  and  thousands 
of  years." 

One  of  the  miners  who  had  been  listening  to  the  conver- 
sation said:  "If  you  will  step  this  way,  madam,  I  can  show 
you  the  whole  of  a  tree-trunk  in  the  coal." 

The  children  eagerly  crowded  around  as  the  miner  showed 
the  fossilized  trunk  of  a  tree  still  standing  just  as  it  grew, 
with  its  roots  in  the  seat-stone  and  its  top  in  the  sandstone 
above  the  coal — for  here  the  layer  of  coal  was  several  feet  in 
thickness. 

A  few  minutes  afterward,  as  the  children  were  looking 
carefully  at  the  sides  of  the  mine  to  see  if  they  could  find  more 
fossils,  the  shy  little  girl  said  quietly  to  the  teacher:  "  I  think 


IN  A  COAL  MINE. 


HEAT — FUEL.  43 

that  I  have  found  something,  Miss  Turner;  won't  you  please 
see?" 

She  led  the  way  to  a  trunk  which  showed  the  various 
stages  in  the  process  of  change.  One  end  was  still  almost 
like  wood,  the  middle  part  was  a  very  soft  brown  coal,  while 
the  other  end  was  true  coal. 

"That  helps  us  to  understand  more  about  the  way  in 
which  the  forests  were  changed  to  coal,"  said  Miss  Turner. 
"  Now  here  is  one  more  proof  that  coal  was  formed  out  of 
wood." 

The  teacher  picked  up  a  piece  of  coal  and  broke  it  with 
a  hammer.  Then  she  showed  on  the  new  surface  some 
patches  of  a  black  substance.  "  Does  not  that  look  like  char- 
coal? "  she  asked.  "You  know  that  charcoal  is  wood  partly 
burned." 

Thus  the  class  learned  how  nature,  ages  and  ages  ago, 
began  to  prepare  for  the  use  of  man  a  fuel  which  seems  inex- 
haustible, is  superior  to  wood  in  many  respects,  and  is  freely 
distributed  in  various  portions  of  the  world.  This  coal, 
which  has  taken  the  place  of  wood  to  a  great  extent  in  fur- 
nishing heat  for  our  houses  and  stores,  is  found  in  large 
quantities  in  the  United  States,  but  was  not  mined  or  used 
here  until  the  middle  of  the  last  century. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
COAL. 

THE  use  of  coal  for  heating  purposes  is  so  familiar  to  every 
one  nowadays  that  probably  few  have  ever  thought  about  the 
time  when  it  was  unknown.  Coal  was  as  plentiful  three 
thousand  years  ago  as  it  is  now.  Layers  and  beds  of  the 
fuel  existed  just  under  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and  in 
many  places  cropped  out  through  it.  But  the  stones  were 
merely  "black  rocks,"  and  the  idea  that  rocks  would  burn 
was  too  absurd  to  occur  to  any  one.  We  may  well  wonder 
how  it  was  first  discovered  that  coal  would  burn. 

Professor  Greene  suggests  a  possible  explanation  of  this 
discovery.  "  There  is  in  coal  a  hard,  yellow,  brassy  mineral 
which  flies  in  the  fire  and  not  infrequently  startles  the  circle 
that  has  gathered  around  its  cheerful  blaze.  When  exposed 
to  damp  air  this  mineral  undergoes  chemical  change,  and 
during  the  process  heat  is  given  out,  sometimes  in  sufficient 
quantities  to  set  the  coal  alight.  In  this  way  it  occasionally 
happens  that  seams  *of  coal,  when  they  lie  near  the  surface, 
take  fire  of  their  own  accord.  One  day  a  savage  on  a  stroll 
was  startled  by  finding  the  ground  warm  beneath  his  feet, 
and  by  seeing  smoke  and  sulphurous  vapors  issuing  from 
it.  He  laid  it  first  to  a  supernatural  cause ;  but  curiosity  get- 
ting the  better  of  superstition,  he  scraped  away  the  earth  to 
find  whence  the  reek  came.  Then  he  saw  a  bed  of  black 
stone,  loose  blocks  of  which  he  had  already  noticed  lying 


HEAT — COAL.  45 

about ;  parts  of  this  stone  were  smouldering,  and  as  soon  as 
air  was  admitted  burst  into  a  blaze." 

Whether  coal  was  thus  discovered  or  not,  its  first  discovery 
must  have  occurred  early  in  the  history  of  the  world.  More 
than  twenty  centuries  ago  the  Greek  scholar,  Theophrastus, 
wrote  of  the  coals  which  were  used  by  blacksmiths.  There 
are  indications  that  coal  was  mined  in  England  before  that 
country  was  conquered  by  the  Romans.  But  not  until  the 
twelfth  century  was  enough  of  the  mineral  mined  in  New- 
castle, the  great  coal  region  of  England,  to  warrant  its  being 
carried  to  London.  As  this  coal  was  brought  in  vessels  to  the 
metropolis  it  received  the  name  of  "sea-coal,"  and  it  was  thus 
called  for  several  centuries. 

How  strange  it  is  that  opposition  always  arises  to  every 
new  thing!  People  are  always  to  be  found  who  think  that 
anything  with  which  they  are  not  familiar  cannot  be  good. 
So  it  was  in  London.  A  cry  began  to  arise  that  the  use  of 
coal  was  injurious  to  health.  The  coal  was  soft  or  bitumi- 
nous, and  burned  with  considerable  flame  and  a  dense  smoke. 
This  was  before  the  common  use  of  chimneys,  and  therefore 
the  air  in  the  rooms  where  it  was  burned  became  filled  with 
an  unpleasant  odor.  The  belief  was  general  that  the  use  of 
coal  rendered  the  air  unfit  to  breathe,  and  Parliament  was 
requested  to  put  a  stop  to  it.  King  Edward  I.  issued  a  proc- 
lamation forbidding  any  but  blacksmiths  to  burn  sea-coals, 
and  directing  that  buildings  from  which  coal-smoke  was  seen 
to  come  should  be  torn  down.  Though  the  law  was  repealed 
under  a  later  king,  coal  was  but  little  used  for  household  pur- 
poses until  the  eighteenth  century. 

Most  of  the  coal  beds  in  the  United  States  are  situated  at 
some  distance  from  the  ocean ;  therefore  the  first  colonists, 
settling  along  the  coast,  were  for  a  long  time  ignorant  of 


46  AMERICAN    INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

their  existence.  The  first  white  man  to  discover  coal  was 
Father  Hennepin,  who  more  than  two  hundred  years  ago, 
while  exploring  the  Mississippi  River,  found  it  in  Illinois. 
The  first  mines  worked  were  the  Richmond  fields  in  Vir- 
ginia, where  coal  was  taken  out  a  century  and  a  half  ago. 

There  is  a  tradition  that  a  boy  left  home  one  morning  to 
go  fishing.  After  trying  his  luck  for  a  time  he  found  that 
his  bait  was  gone.  Accordingly  he  began  to  hunt  for  craw- 
fish, and  while  searching  stumbled  over  some  black  stones 
which  attracted  his  attention.  He  had  found  the  "outcrop" 
of  a  coal  bed,  and  on  his  return  he  made  known  his  dis- 
covery. A  rich  vein  of  coal  was  soon  disclosed,  and  mining 
on  a  small  scale  was  begun.  We  must  remember  that  this 
story  is  only  tradition  and  may  not  be  true.  We  might  won- 
der, perhaps,  how  the  boy  knew  that  the  stones  were  any 
different  from  other  rocks  except  in  being  black. 

The  way  in  which  a  twelve-foot  vein  was  discovered  in 
Pennsylvania  is  told  in  Forest  and  Stream,  and  is  probably 
quite  true. 

Elias  Blank,  living  in  Western  Pennsylvania  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  last  century,  was  called  to  his  door  one  night  and 
found  there  Lewis  Whetzell,  a  famous  Indian  fighter,  and 
Jonathan  Gates,  commonly  called  "Long  Arms." 

"Friend  Lewis,"  said  Mr.  Blank,  "where  have  thee  and 
our  friend  been,  and  where  bound?  " 

"  I  want  to  get  out  of  here  at  once,"  said  Whetzell,  "and 
Long  Arms  is  of  the  same  opinion.  This  country's  bewitched, 
and  Long  Arms  and  I  are  nearly  scared  to  death." 

"Friend  Lewis,  thee  must  not  tell  such  stories  to  me," 
said  old  Elias.  "Thee  knows  I  am  thy  friend,  and  I  have 
saved  thee  when  a  price  was  on  thy  head.  I  know  thou  art 
a  man  of  courage,  and  friend  Jonathan  Gates,  whom  some 


HEAT  —  COAL.  47 


call  'Long  Arms,'  fears  nothing  on  earth,  and  I'm  fearful 
nothing  anywhere  else  ;  and  yet  thou  tellest  me  that  he  and 
thee  are  scared  even  almost  to  death.  Shame  on  thee  so  to 
declare  before  thy  friend,  who  loves  ye  both  as  he  were  thy 
father!" 

"No,  no,  Elias,"  said  Whetzell,  dropping  into  the  Quaker 
speech.  "  I  tell  thee  no  lie.  We  are  scared.  Yesterday 
afternoon  we  were  in  hiding  about  a  mile  from  Dunkard 
Creek,  and  in  the  evening  we  built  a  fire  under  the  bank  very 
carefully  ;  and  we  got  some  black  rocks  to  prop  up  a  little 
kettle,  and  put  them  beside  the  fire  rather  than  in  it  ;  and  the 
black  rocks  took  fire  and  burned  fiercely,  with  a  filthy  smoke 
and  a  bright  light;  and  Long  Arms  said  the  devil  would 
come  if  we  stayed  ;  and  we  grabbed  the  kettle  and  poured  out 
the  water,  and  made  our  way  here,  leaving  the  black  rocks  to 
burn." 

Elias  Blank  was  much  interested.  He  did  not  tell  Whet- 
zell what  the  black  rocks  were,  but  he  found  out  exactly  where 
the  men  had  made  their  fire,  and  the  next  day  hunted  up  the 
camping-ground,  found  the  "  black  rocks  "  in  one  of  the  river- 
hills,  and  opened  a  coal  bank. 

Thus,  a  little  here  and  a  little  there,  coal  was  discovered 
and  used.  At  first  it  was  mingled  with  wood,  and  then 
burned  alone  on  the  hearth.  This  coal  was  easily  kindled, 
for  it  was  bituminous  or  soft  ;  it  was  not  necessary  to  provide 
an  extra  draft,  or  to  spend  much  more  time  in  lighting  it 
than  had  been  customary  with  wood.  Not  many  years 
passed,  however,  before  a  variety  of  coal  was  found  that  was 
hard  and  would  not  kindle  easily.  Accordingly  it  was 
thrown  aside  as  useless.  This  was  anthracite  coal,  and  it  is 
now  generally  preferred  to  the  bituminous  because  of  this 
very  quality.  Being  hard,  it  does  not  burn  away  so  rapidly; 


48  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

besides,  it  needs  less  attention  and  gives  out  much  less 
smoke. 

Just  before  the  Revolution,  Obadiah  Gore,  a  blacksmith  in 
the  Wyoming  valley  in  Pennsylvania,  tried  hard  coal  in  his 
forge.  At  first,  even  with  his  great  bellows,  he  was  unable 
to  make  it  burn.  He  continued  the  experiment,  however, 
and  after  a  time  the  lumps  began  to  yield  and  flames  darted 
from  them.  He  thus  discovered  that  pieces  of  anthracite  coal 
could  be  kindled  and  burned  if  there  was  a  "  strong  current 
of  air,"  as  he  said,  "sent  through  them  by  the  bellows; 
without  that  I  could  do  nothing  with  them." 

Mr.  Gore  thus  used  anthracite  coal  in  his  forge,  but  even 
he  did  not  burn  it  at  home.  Not  until  the  beginning  of  this 
century  was  hard  coal  used  for  domestic  purposes.  Oliver 
Evans  in  1803  successfully  burned  it  in  a  grate.  Many 
years  passed,  however,  before  hard  coal  came  into  common 
use.  A  few  people  purchased  anthracite  coal,  but  they  could 
not  burn  it;  they  used  it  just  as  they  had  been  accustomed 
to  use  soft  coal.  After  that,  great  difficulty  was  experienced 
in  persuading  any  one  to  try  the  new  coal. 

Nicholas  Allen  in  Pennsylvania  discovered  anthracite  coal 
and  got  out  several  wagonloads  of  it.  He  tried  in  vain  to 
sell  it.  "No, "said  the  people,  "we  have  tried  that  once, 
and  we  do  not  propose  to  be  cheated  again."  Mr.  Allen  be- 
came discouraged  and  sold  his  interest  to  his  partner,  Colonel 
Shoemaker,  who  took  the  coal  to  Philadelphia.  Here  he 
praised  it  so  highly  that  at  last  a  few  people  bought  a  little 
for  trial.  They  continually  punched  the  coal  and  stirred  up 
the  fire,  but  they  did  not  succeed  in  making  it  burn.  They 
became  enraged  with  Colonel  Shoemaker,  and  procured  a 
warrant  for  his  arrest  as  a  common  impostor.  The  colonel 
heard  of  the  warrant,  quietly  left  the  city,  and  drove  thirty 


HEAT — COAL. 


49 


miles  out  of  his  route  in  order  to  avoid  the  officer.     Fortu. 
nately  a  firm  of  iron  factors  who  had  purchased  some  of  the 
coal   succeeded   in  making   it   burn.     They  announced   the 
fact  in  the  Philadelphia 
newspapers,    and    other 
iron  -  workers   tried    the 
coal.     Soon  all  the  fur- 
naces were  using  it. 

Both   anthracite  and 
bituminous   coal    are 
freely  mined  in  vari- 
ous  sections  of    the 
United      States. 
There  is  coal  enough 
underground  to  last 
for   many  centuries. 
It    used   to    be   said 
that   England  was   the 
great  coal-mining  coun- 
try,   for    her    coal   fields 
are  nearly   as  extensive   as 
those  of  all  the  rest  of  Eur- 
ope.    But  the  United  States  has 
a  supply  of  coal  that  will  apparently 
be  hardly  diminished  when  that  of  the      BLACKSMITH  AT  HIS  FOKGE. 
British  Islands  is  entirely  used.     The 

single  State  of  Pennsylvania  has  a  greater  store  of  coal  than 
all  Europe,  and  her  part  is  less  than  one-tenth  of  the  stock 
of  coal  in  the  United  States. 

Even  if  the  forests  of  the  entire  country  should  be  de- 
stroyed, we  should  not  want  for  fuel.  But  let  us  remember 
that  not  only  would  the  loss  of  our  forests  deprive  us  of  wood 


5O  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

for  other  purposes  than  merely  to  keep  us  warm,  but  it  would 
also  cause  great  injury  to  the  farming  interests  of  the  coun- 
try. If  we  would  have  good  crops  we  must  have  proper 
rainfalls;  without  forests  the  rain  would  do  greater  and 
greater  injury  and  less  and  less  good.  We  ought  to  do  all 
in  our  power  to  help  preserve  our  forests,  and  as  far  as  we 
can  to  increase  the  number  of  trees. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

MATCHES. 

"THOMAS!  Thomas!  The  fire  is  out!  Get  right  up  and 
go  over  to  neighbor  Wallace's  and  borrow  some  fire."  It 
was  a  cold  morning,  eight  degrees  below  zero,  and  Mr.  Wal- 
lace lived  three-quarters  of  a  mile  away.  The  sun  would 
not  rise  for  two  hours;  but,  when  mother  called,  the  boys  in- 
stantly obeyed.  Thomas  hurriedly  dressed,  snatched  a  shovel 
which  was  standing  by  the  hearth,  and  hastily  shutting  the 
outside  door,  ran  as  fast  as  he  could  to  the  nearest  neighbor's. 
Of  course  he  hurried,  for  was  not  mother  all  dressed  and  not 
a  bit  of  fire  in  the  house?  The  fire  must  have  died  down  too 
much  the  evening  before ;  and  although  the  coals  had  been 
carefully  covered  with  ashes  before  father  and  mother  went 
to  bed,  mother  could  not  find  a  tiny  spark  anywhere  under 
the  ashes  in  the  morning. 

Thomas  kept  up  his  run  until  he  was  tired,  and  then  fell 
into  a  brisk  walk.  When  he  reached  neighbor  Wallace's,  he 
was  glad  to  warm  his  numbed  fingers  over  the  raging  fire  in 
the  fireplace.  But  he  knew  that  he  must  not  stop  long,  so  he 
stated  his  errand,  and  Mrs.  Wallace  placed  some  live  coals 
on  his  shovel  and  thoroughly  covered  them  with  ashes. 
Thomas  rested  a  moment  longer  and  then  hastened  home ; 
for  if  those  coals  should  be  out  when  he  reached  the  house 
he  would  have  to  make  the  trip  over  again. 

This  disaster  did  not  befall  him,  however,  and  soon  his 
mother  had  placed  the  coals  on  the  hearth  and  had  laid  upon 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS    AND   INVENTORS. 


THOMAS  CARRYING  FIRE. 


them  a  few  shavings.  These  kindled  at  once;  small  sticks 
were  soon  ablaze,  and  in  a  very  short  time  the  fire  was  burn- 
ing as  vigorously  as  the  neighbor's  had  been. 

The  boys  of  two  centuries  ago  fully  realized  what  it  meant 
to  have  the  fire  go  out.  Perhaps  the  nearest  neighbors  were 

not  always  so  far  distant, 
but  it  was  no  pleasant  task 
to  be  sent  for  coals  any 
distance  on  a  winter  morn- 
i  n  g  .  If,  however,  no 
neighbors  were  near  and 
coals  could  not  be  bor- 
rowed, how  under  circum- 
stances like  these  could  a 
new  fire  be  kindled?  If 
we  wanted  a  fire  nowadays 
we  might  say,  "  Strike  a 

light/'  because  we  should  obtain  the  light  by  striking  a  match ; 
but,  before  matches  were  invented,  the  expression  used  would 
probably  have  been,  "  Rub  a  light." 

An  early  method  of  producing  a  light,  and  from  this  a 
fire,  was  by  rubbing  two  sticks  together.  If  this  process  be 
continued  long  enough  the  wood  will  become  heated  and 
sparks  will  fly  off.  Then,  in  order  to  start  the  fire,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  catch  one  of  these  sparks  upon  something  that 
will  burn  easily.  This  method  was  used  thousands  of  years 
ago,  and  is  still  common  among  the  savages  in  various  parts 
of  the  globe.  This  seems  simple  enough,  but  if  you  try  it 
you  will  find  that  it  is  no  easy  task.  It  requires  considerable 
muscular  power  to  "  rub  a  light "  from  two  sticks  of  wood, 
and  almost  any  other  process  is  preferable. 

The  most  important  thing  in  this  method  of  kindling  a 


HEAT — MATCHES. 


53 


fire  is  the  rapidity  with  which  the  sticks  are  rubbed  together. 
Some  one  of  the  savages  more  keen  than  the  others  con- 
ceived the  idea  that  he  could  save  labor  and  at  the  same 
time  increase  the  rapidity  with  which  the  stick  moved.  He 
took  his  bow  and  twisted  the  cord  once  around  a  stick.  Then 
he  placed  one  end  on  a  piece  of  wood,  and  by  moving  the  bow 
back  and  forth  twisted  the  stick  with  great  rapidity.  Soon 
the  shavings  which  he  had  placed  at  the  point  of  contact 
were  ablaze.  Little  by  little  this  drill  was  improved,  and 
now  among  some  of  the  American  Indians  it  furnishes  a 
comparatively  easy  way  of  kindling  a  fire. 

Most  children  have  seen  a  spark  caused  by  the  shoe  of  a 
horse  striking  a  stone  in  the  road.     Sometimes  if  one  stone 
strikes  another  a  spark  is  produced.     All  this  was  perceived 
even  in  the  earliest  times,  and  the  best  substances  to  be  used 
became   well    known.       The 
stone  called  flint  was  found 
to  be  the  best  for  one  of  the 
two  substances,   and  steel  is 
usually    preferred     for     the 
other.     When  steel  and  flint 
strike  each  other,  if  a  spark 
falls    upon     some   vegetable 
matter  a  fire  is  soon  kindled. 

Perhaps  the  most  common 
substance  used  to  catch  the 
spark  was  touchwood,  a  soft, 
decayed  wood  carefully 

broken  into  small  fragments.  After  a  time,  in  place  of  the 
touchwood,  tinder  was  used,  which  was  made  by  scorching 
old  linen  handkerchiefs.  Later  the  tinder  box  was  invented, 
in  which  a  steel  wheel  was  spun  like  a  tcp  upon  a  piece  of 


TINDER  BOX,  FLINT,  AND  MATCHES. 


54  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

flint  set  in  tinder.  After  the  discovery  of  gunpowder,  flint 
and  steel  were  used  in  guns.  A  hammer  of  flint  struck  an 
anvil  of  steel,  and  the  spark  produced  fell  into  a  pan  of  gun- 
powder, causing  the  flash  which  fired  the  gun. 

Before  the  American  Revolution,  and  even  into  the  pres- 
ent century,  the  process  of  kindling  a  fire  was  not  a  simple 
one.  The  most  frequent  means  employed,  as  has  been  seen, 
was  the  borrowing  of  coals  from  a  neighbor.  Less  often,  re- 
course was  had  to  the  long  and  difficult  process  of  rubbing  a 
spark  from  two  pieces  of  wood.  Sometimes,  among  the  well- 
to-do,  the  tinder  box  was  used ;  but  it  was  seldom  satisfactory. 
For  these  reasons  the  fire  was  always  most  carefully  watched ; 
every  precaution  was  taken  to  prevent  it  from  going 
out.  Seldom  could  the  house  be  left  by  the  whole  family 
for  any  length  of  time,  and  all  because  of  the  lack  of  a 
match. 

Matches  are  a  result  of  the  study  of  chemistry.  During 
the  Dark  Ages  a  few  scholars  were  interested  in  what  they 
called  alchemy;  but  they  spent  most  of  their  time  and 
thought  in  trying  to  discover  two  things — how  to  change 
iron  into  gold,  and  how  to  keep  themselves  eternally  young. 
About  two  hundred  years  ago  these  two  foolish  desires  came 
to  be  considered  unpractical,  and  since  then  chemists  have 
been  constantly  seeking  to  discover  ways  of  benefiting  man- 
kind. For  many  years  students  in  different  countries  tried 
to  find  certain  chemicals  that  could  be  so  combined  as  to 
render  the  tinder  box  unnecessary.  Several  of  these  at- 
tempts to  make  a  light  seemed  successful,  but  most  of  them 
were  dangerous  and  all  were  expensive.  An  account  of  one 
of  these  trials  may  be  of  interest. 

About  seventy  years  ago  a  young  man  named  Lauria,  in 
Lyons,  France,  watched  his  professor  pound  some  sulphur 


HEAT — MATCHES.  55 

and  chlorate  of  potash  together.  The  resulting  flash  and 
sharp  crack  set  him  thinking,  and  he  went  home  and  began 
to  experiment.  He  had  a  few  sticks  of  pine  wood  which 
had  been  partly  dipped  in  sulphur,  and  a  few  glass  tubes,  and 
he  obtained  more  sulphur  and  some  chlorate.  He  tried  melt- 
ing and  mixing,  only  to  meet  with  many  accidents.  Finally 
he  dipped  the  end  of  one  of  the  sticks  into  sulphur  and  then 
into  the  chlorate.  He  observed  that  some  of  the  chlorate  re- 
mained on  the  stick.  Then  he  rubbed  this  prepared  end  on 
the  wall  where  there  happened  to  be  a  little  phosphorus; 
the  stick  immediately  blazed.  He  had  discovered  for  him- 
self the  principle  of  the  match ;  all  he  needed  besides  was 
something  which  would  make  the  chlorate  always  stick  to  the 
sulphured  wood. 

However,  this  match  was  not  satisfactory  and  was  never 
manufactured  for  sale.  Phosphorus  was  dangerous,  and  it 
was  not  safe  to  have  it  spread  upon  a  wall  or  any  other  sur- 
face. The  first  matches  of  practical  use  were  made  in  1833, 
and  were  invented  by  six  different  men  in  six  different 
countries.  These  were  the  original  Lucifer  matches,  which 
did  not  require  the  use  of  phosphorus.  They  were  made  of 
thin  sticks  of  wood  partly  covered  with  sulphur.  The  ends 
of  these  sticks  were  then  dipped  into  a  compound  of  chlorate 
of  potash,  sulphite  of  antimony,  and  gum.  When  used  these 
matches  were  drawn  through  a  bent  piece  of  sandpaper. 
They  were  costly,  frequently  selling  for  a  cent  apiece. 

A  few  years  later  a  famous  chemist  discovered  the  red 
form  of  phosphorus,  which  is  not  dangerous  to  handle. 
Since  that  time  most  matches  have  contained  this  substance 
in  the  mixture,  although  during  the  last  half  century  hun- 
dreds of  different  combinations  have  been  invented.  To-day 
hardly  any  article  is  manufactured  that  is  so  common  and 


56  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

inexpensive  as  the  match.  Without  it  we  should  feel  almost 
lost,  and  surely  it  would  seem  to  us  that  the  Dark  Ages  had 
returned.  We  are  told  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  United 
States  use  on  an  average  more  than  a  thousand  matches  a 
year  each.  There  are  more  than  forty  manufactories  in  this 
country,  most  of  them  being  in  California,  Connecticut,  New 
York,  and  Pennsylvania,  yet  the  entire  business  is  principally 
controlled  by  one  great  company. 

During  the  last  two  hundred  years  chimneys  have  been 
improved,  stoves  have  been  invented  and  developed,  coal  has 
been  discovered,  and  matches  have  come  into  universal  use. 
The  log  cabins  of  our  ancestors  have  been  replaced  by  the 
well-built  houses  of  to-day.  The  mammoth  fireplaces,  send- 
ing much  heat  up  the  chimney  and  much  smoke  into  the  room, 
have  given  way  to  the  stoves  and  furnaces  that  render  life 
comfortable.  No  longer  is  it  necessary  to  freeze  our  backs 
while  roasting  our  faces.  Cranes,  pot-hooks  and  trammels, 
and  Dutch  ovens  are  chiefly  to  be  seen  in  museums,  and  the 
kitchen  range  saves  the  cook  much  needless  labor.  Nowa- 
days we  seldom  find  the  fires  out  on  a  winter's  morning  and 
the  water  frozen  in  the  pitcher.  Instead  of  hastening  through 
the  cold  and  the  snow  to  a  neighbor  to  borrow  fire,  we  simply 
"strike  a  match."  We  all  of  us  live  in  comfort  that  would 
have  seemed  luxury  to  the  wealthiest  families  two  centuries 
ago. 

Can  we  look  forward  to  the  changes  that  may  come  in  the 
future  in  the  methods  of  heating  our  houses  and  cooking  our 
food  ?  Already  railroad  cars  are  being  heated  by  steam  from 
the  engines  and  electric  cars  are  heated  by  electricity.  Al- 
ready oil  stoves  and  gas  stoves  have  come  into  common  use 
and  are  found  to  possess  many  advantages:  No  ashes  need 
removal ;  the  fire  may  be  started  without  delay ;  the  room  is 


HEAT — MATCHES.  57 

less  heated  than  with  a  coal  fire ;  and  the  blaze  may  be  turned 
out  when  no  longer  needed.  Already  in  some  parts  of  the 
country  natural  gas  is  led  by  pipes  directly  from  the  wells 
into  houses  for  cooking  and  for  heating  purposes.  Already 
experiments  in  heating  houses  and  cooking  food  by  means 
of  electricity  are  common  and  to  some  extent  successful.  It 
would  seem  that  the  inventions  and  improvements  of  the 
next  hundred  years  may  render  the  homes  as  much  more 
comfortable  than  those  of  to-day  as  ours  surpass  those  of 
our  ancestors. 


THOMAS  A.  EDISON. 


SECTION   II.-LIGHT. 


60  AMERICAN    INVENTIONS    AND    INVENTORS. 


•  •'•• 


MINOT'S  LEDGE   LIGHT,   MASSACHUSETTS   BAY. 


SECTION  II.— LIGHT. 

CHAPTER    I. 
TORCHES. 

WOOD  and  coal,  gas  and  oil,  electricity  even,  aid  us  in 
our  demand  for  warm  houses.  In  winter  we  should  suffer 
greatly  were  it  not  for  our  fireplaces,  our  stoves,  and  our 
furnaces.  The  sun  then  shines  but  a  short  time  every  day, 
and  sends  us  little  heat.  In  summer  "  the  great  orb  of  day  " 
remains  many  hours  in  the  heavens,  and  warms  us  through 
and  through.  We  have  little  desire  then  for  artificial  heat  ; 
natural  heat  is  sometimes  more  than  sufficient. 

The  sun  shines  over  all  the  world.  "  His  going  forth  is 
from  the  end  of  the  heaven,  and  his  circuit  unto  the  ends  of 
it:  and  there  is  nothing  hid  from  the  heat  thereof." 

The  sun  does  much  more  for  us  than  send  us  its  heat- 
rays  :  all  day  long  we  rejoice  in  the  bright  sunshine.  But 
at  night,  when  the  sun  has  set,  we  ask  for  artificial  light. 
How  shall  we  get  it  ?  How  did  our  ancestors  obtain  it  ? 

We  have  in  our  day  the  electric  light ;  we  can  use  illutni- 
nating  gas ;  kerosene  is  easily  obtained ;  if  necessary,  we  can 
resort  to  candles.  Yet  there  was  a  time  when  the  electric 
light  had  not  been  discovered.  Earlier  still,  gas  had  not 
been  made  and  kerosene  was  not  known.  Indeed,  long, 
long  ago  even  candles  had  not  been  seen  by  men.  What 
did  the  people  do  for  light  on  a  dark  night  in  those  times  ? 
After  the  sun  had  set  and  night  had  settled  down  upon  them, 


62 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 


what  could  they  do  during  the  long1  winter  evenings  without 
some  method  of  lighting  up  the  darkness? 

As  we  looked  to  the  American  Indians  for  the  simplest 
and  rudest  methods  of  obtaining  heat,  so  we  can  also  learn 
something  from  them  of  the  primitive  modes  of  lighting. 
Much  of  the  time  the  red  men  found  sufficient  light  for  all 
their  wants  in  the  wood  fire.  They  needed  no  candles  to 

read  by,  for  they  had 
no  books  nor  papers. 
They  cared  for  no 
lamp  to  dress  by; 
they  sought  no  illu- 
mination for  halls  or 
churches  or  theatres. 
What  little  need  they 
had  for  artificial  light 
was  practically  satis- 
fied by  that  which 
came  from  the  blaz- 
ing logs. 

If,    however,    on 
any  special   occasion 

they  wished  to  light  up  their  long  houses  more  brightly,  the 
Indians  used  pitch-pine  knots.  In  case  they  were  traveling 
by  night  and  did  not  care  to  proceed  stealthily  or  secretly, 
these  fagots  of  pitch  pine  gave  them  all  the  light  they 
wanted.  The  light  from  these  sticks  was  dim ;  it  flickered  so 
as  to  hurt  the  eyes ;  more  smoke  was  given  out  than  light ; 
but  the  savage  was  fully  content. 

Long  before  the  red  men  were  known,  however,  the  burn- 
ing fagot  was  used  by  the  people  of  Europe  and  Asia  to  les- 
sen the  darkness  of  the  night. 


INDIANS  TRAVELING  AT  NIGHT. 


LIGHT — TORCHES.  63 

An  interesting  story  is  told  of  Hannibal  when  he  was 
leading  the  Carthaginian  army  against  Rome.  In  the  course 
of  his  journey  he  marched  his  whole  force  into  a  valley  which 
was  entirely  surrounded  by  high  mountains  very  difficult  to 
cross.  Fabius,  his  Roman  opponent,  placed  his  own  army  in 
the  pass  and  enclosed  Hannibal  in  the  valley.  Hannibal  was 
apparently  caught  in  a  trap,  but  he  was  a  shrewd  commander, 
and  he  quickly  devised  a  trick  to  make  Fabius  withdraw  his 
legions.  Early  in  the  day  he  sent  out  a  large  detail  from  his 
army  to  gather  fagots.  What  was  he  about  to  do  with  such 
great  quantities  of  pine  knots? 

In  the  afternoon,  by  Hannibal's  orders,  these  fagots  were 
bound  to  the  horns  of  oxen  which  had  been  driven  along 
during  the  march  for  food  for  the  army.  At  nightfall  the 
fagots  were  lighted  and  the  oxen  were  driven  directly  up  the 
steep  side  of  one  of  the  mountains.  Fabius  naturally  sup- 
posed that  the  lights  moving  up  the  mountain-side  must  be 
carried  by  soldiers,  and  he  thought  that  Hannibal  and  all  his 
army  were  trying  to  escape  in  that  direction.  Accordingly 
he  quickly  withdrew  his  troops  from  the  pass  in  order  to  at- 
tack the  enemy  when  they  came  down  the  opposite  side  of 
the  mountain.  Hannibal  then  quietly  marched  his  army 
through  the  pass,  meeting  with  no  opposition. 

Long,  long  centuries  before  Hannibal  the  torch  was 
known.  In  that  strange  story  of  Gideon  and  his  three  hun- 
dred men  who  overcame  the  Midianites,  the  torch  or  lamp 
was  one  of  the  weapons  used.  The  vast  host  of  the  Midian- 
ites, fearing  no  hostile  attack,  was  spread  over  a  great  val- 
ley. Gideon  placed  his  little  band  of  men  on  the  hills 
around  the  enemy's  camp,  each  man  at  a  considerable  dis- 
tance from  the  next,  so  that  they  made  a  line  nearly  sur- 
rounding the  entire  valley.  Every  man  had  a  trumpet  in 


64  AMERICAN    INVENTIONS    AND    INVENTORS. 

one  hand,  and  a  lamp  or  torch  covered  by  an  upturned 
pitcher  in  the  other.  This  arrangement  of  the  lamp  and 
the  pitcher  allowed  a  little  light  to  be  thrown  upon  the 
ground  directly  beneath.  The  men  could  thus  avoid  step- 
ping upon  dry  sticks  and  making  a  noise  which  might  alarm 
the  guards  around  the  camp  of  the  Midianites.  At  the  same 
time  tne  light  was  concealed  from  the  eyes  of  their  enemies. 

When  all  was  ready  a  shout  was  raised,  "  The  sword  of 
the  Lord  and  of  Gideon !  "  and  the  pitchers  were  thrown  with 
a  great  crash  upon  the  ground.  The  sudden  noise  of  voices 
and  of  the  breaking  pitchers  awoke  the  Midianites  from  a 
deep  sleep ;  the  trumpets  and  the  shouts  turned  their  eyes  to 
the  hills.  All  along  the  line  of  the  three  hundred  men 
spread  out  in  a  circle  around  them  blazed  the  three  hundred 
torches.  As  it  was  the  custom  in  those  days  to  have  a  torch 
or  a  lamp  indicate  the  headquarters  of  a  general,  the  Midian- 
ites in  their  sudden  terror  naturally  thought  that  an  immense 
army  was  surrounding  them.  They  imagined  that  Gideon 
had  hired  vast  forces  from  Egypt  and  elsewhere,  for  they 
supposed  that  each  of  the  several  hundred  torches  indicated 
a  general  with  all  his  followers.  Their  only  thought,  there- 
fore, was  to  flee  as  quickly  as  possible.  They  ran  against 
each  other,  and,  unable  in  the  darkness  to  distinguish  friend 
from  foe,  they  killed  their  own  men.  The  entire  army  of 
one  hundred  and  thirty-five  thousand  men  perished. 

It  is  not  certain  whether  the  lights  which  were  covered 
by  the  pitchers  came  from  lamps  or  torches.  Gideon  lived 
three  thousand  years  ago,  and  at  that  time  both  torches  and 
lamps  were  used.  He  was  a  general  of  the  Israelites,  and 
they  certainly  had  lamps  when  in  Egypt  many  years  before 
the  time  of  Gideon.  Lamps  were  also  used  by  the  Greeks 
and  the  Romans. 


LIGHT — TORCHES. 


The  lamp  of  these  ancient  times  was  merely  a  small  ves- 
sel like  a  modern  cup  or  bowl,  usually  having  a  handle. 
This  was  filled  with  oil,  generally  olive,  or  sometimes  only 
with  grease.  In  this  cup  was  placed  a  small  piece  of  cloth 
hanging  over  the  side,  which  when  lighted  served  as  a  wick. 
It  was  the  simplest  arrangement  possible. 

The  pitch-pine  knot  and  the  cup  of  grease  have  been  more 
or  less  used  since  these  early  times.  When  our  ancestors 
came  to  this  country  their 
houses  .were  generally 
lighted  by  candles.  In 
many  cases,  however,  the 
light  from  the  fireplace 
was  all  that  was  used  ex- 
cept on  rare  occasions. 
The  settlers  who  gradually 
moved  westward  to  take  up 
new  lands  retained  nearly 

all  the  inconvenient  methods  of  the  earlier  colonists.  In  the 
newer  settlements  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  valleys  and 
on  the  great  Western  plains  the  logs  on  the  hearth  were 
frequently  the  only  means  for  lighting  the  house  during  the 
evenings. 

On  Knob  Creek,  in  the  new  State  of  Kentucky,  a  little 
school  was  kept  nearly  eighty-five  years  ago.  Among  the 
pupils  was  a  small  boy  not  seven  years  of  age.  One  of  his 
schoolmates  afterward  said  of  him  that  he  was  "  an  unusually 
bright  boy  at  school,  and  made  splendid  progress  in  his  studies. 
He  would  get  spice-wood  brushes,  hack  them  up  on  a  log,  and 
burn  two  or  three  together  for  the  purpose  of  giving  light  by 
which  he  might  pursue  his  studies."  It  does  not  surprise  us 
to  learn  that  this  boy  who  thus  in  his  earliest  years  showed 


ANCIENT  LAMPS. 


66  AMERICAN    INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

such  eagerness  to  learn  as  to  utilize  the  light  of  the  kitchen 
fire  was  Abraham  Lincoln,  afterward  the  famous  President 
of  the  United  States. 

Many  men  are  now  living  who  do  not  remember  to  have 
seen  in  their  boyhood  days  any  better  light  than  the  grease 
lamp.  One  of  these  primitive  lamps  was  easily  made.  An 
old  button  was  covered  with  cloth,  which  was  tied  with  a 
string  close  to  the  button,  the  edges  of  the  cloth  hanging 
free.  This  covered  button  was  placed  upon  lard  in  a  saucer 
or  other  similar  vessel,  and  a  light  applied.  The  lard  around 
'  the  cloth  melted,  the  button  acted  as  a  wick,  and  a  rude  lamp 
was  the  result. 

The  hearth  fire,  the  fagot  or  pitch-pine  knot,  and  the  pot 
of  grease  or  lard  with  a  simple  wick  were  the  earliest 
methods  of  artificial  lighting.  These,  though  still  in  use  in 
newly  settled  communities,  gave  place,  in  the  main,  centuries 
ago  to  the  candle.  As  this  was  the  first  improved  method 
for  lighting  houses,  churches,  and  other  buildings,  it  should 
next  be  considered. 


CHAPTER    II. 

CANDLES. 

NOBODY  can  tell  when  candles  were  invented.  Candle- 
sticks are  often  spoken  of  in  the  Bible,  but  those  doubtless 
held  oil  and  burned  a  wick  which  hung  over  the  side  like  the 
Roman  lamps  of  later  time.  These  lamps  appear  to  have 
been  used  by  the  Romans  in  their  worship,  and  after  the 
Christian  religion  was  established  at  Rome,  candles  were  in- 
troduced into  the  Christian  service.  During  all  the  centuries 
since  that  time  the  candle  has  been  used  in  Catholic  churches 
and-  cathedrals. 

The  Romans  on  the  second  day  of  February  burned  candles 
to  the  goddess  Februa,  the  mother  of  Mars,  the  Roman  god 
of  war,  and  Pope  Sergius  adopted  the  custom  and  established 
rites  and  ceremonies  for  that  day  in  the  offering  of  candles 
to  the  Virgin  Mary.  This  was  called  Candlemas  day.  The 
common  people  supposed  that  these  candles  would  frighten 
away  the  devil  and  all  evil  spirits  not  only  from  the  persons 
who  burned  them,  but  from  the  houses  in  which  they  were 
placed.  There  is  an  ancient  tradition  about  Candlemas  day 
which  seems  to  have  traveled  all  over  Europe  and  found  its 
way  into  this  country;  if  the  weather  is  fine  on  that  day — 
February  2d — it  indicates  a  long  winter  and  a  late  spring. 
The  Scotch  state  the  legend  in  this  way : 

"  If  Candlemas  day  is  fair  and  clear, 
There'll  be  two  winters  in  the  year." 


68  AMERICAN    INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

For  several  centuries  past  candles  have  been  used  all  over 
the  world  for  lighting  purposes.  We  have  a  variety  of  can- 
dles even  in  these  days,  as  they  are  now  made  of  tallow, 
stearin,  bleached  wax,  spermaceti,  and  paraffine.  Those 
commonly  used  by  the  early  colonists  were  dipped  candles, 
often  roughly  made  at  home.  For  the  wicks  a  loose,  soft, 
fibrous  substance  was  taken,  generally  cotton.  These  were 
hung  upon  a  frame  and  dipped  in  melted  tallow,  taken  out, 
suffered  to  cool,  and  dipped  again  and  again  until  the  re- 
quired thickness  was  obtained.  Moulded  candles  were  cast 
in  a  series  of  tubes,  the  wicks  first  being  adjusted  in  the 
middle  of  the  tubes  and  melted  tallow  poured  in.  The  best 
candles  were  made  of  wax.  These  were  neither  dipped  nor 
moulded.  The  wicks  were  warmed,  and  melted  wax  poured 
over  them  until  they  acquired  the  proper  thickness,  then 
they  were  rolled  between  flat  pieces  of  wet,  hard  wood. 

It  is  related  of  Benjamin  Franklin  that  when  a  young 
man  he  received  an  invitation  from  Gov.  William  Burnet,  of 
New  York,  to  call  upon  him.  The  governor  was  delighted 
with  his  conversation,  and  was  surprised  to  hear  him  quote 
from  Locke  on  the  Understanding  The  governor  asked 
him  at  what  college  he  had  studied  Locke. 

"Why,  sir,"  said  Franklin,  "it  was  my  misfortune  never 
to  be  at  any  college,  or  even  at  a  grammar  school,  except 
for  a  year  or  two  when  I  was  a  child." 

Here  the  governor  sprang  from  his  seat,  and  staring  at 
Ben,  cried  out:  "Well,  and  where  did  you  get  your  educa- 
tion, pray?  " 

"  At  home,  sir,  in  a  tallow-chandler's  shop." 

"  In  a  tallow-chandler's  shop!  "  exclaimed  the  governor. 

"Yes,  sir;  my  father  was  a  poor  old  tallow  chandler  with 
fifteen  children,  and  I  the  youngest  of  all.  [His  father  had, 


LIGHT — CANDLES, 


69 


later,  two  other  children,  both  girls.]  At  eight  he  put  me 
to  school ;  but  finding  he  could  not  spare  the  money  from  the 
rest  of  the  children  to  keep  me  there,  he  took  me  home  into 
the  shop,  where  I  assisted  him  by  twisting  candlewicks  and 


FRANKLIN  MAKING  CANDLES. 


filling  the  moulds  all  day,  and  at  night  read  by  myself."  So 
Benjamin  Franklin  spent  two  years  of  his  life,  between  the 
ages  of  ten  and  twelve,  in  making  candles  for  the  good 
people  of  Boston. 

The  candles  gave  but  a  poor  light  compared  with  the 
lights  which  we  have  to-day.  The  combustion  was  only  par- 
tial, and  there  was  constant  trouble  from  the  necessity  of 
"snuffing  the  candle,"  that  is,  cutting  off  the  burnt  wick. 
In  those  days,  in  every  well-regulated  house,  on  the  little 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 


centre-table  stood  the  candlestick,  and  by  its  side  upon  a 
small  tray  made  for  the  purpose  could  always  be  found  the 
"snuffers  " — a  singular  instrument,  something  like  a  pair  of 

scissors,  with  a  small  semi- 
circular pocket  in  which  to 
hold  the  snuff  taken  from 
the  candle. 

Let  us  imagine  an  early 
New  England  family  on  a 
winter's  evening  sitting  be- 
fore the  blazing  fire  of  the 
open  fireplace.  They  are 
gathered  around  a  small 
table  upon  which  is  a  soli- 
tary candle,  giving  a  feeble, 
sickly  flame.  By  its  light 
the  mother  is  sewing  and 
the  father  is  reading  from 
the  Bible,  The  Pilgrim's 
Progress,  or  it  may  be 
Bacon's  Essays,  or  Locke 
on  the  Understanding. 
The  children  are  listening 


READING  BY  CANDLELIGHT. 


and  trying  to  get  interested 
in  what    is    being    read    to 

them,  while  occasionally  one  or  another  of  them  snuffs 
the  little  candle.  By  and  by  the  candle  burns  down  "to 
the  socket,"  and  goes  out.  The  mother  rises  and  goes  to  the 
pantry  to  get  another,  but  finds  to  her  dismay  that  she  has 
used  her  last  one.  The  family  must  therefore  see  by  the 
light  of  the  fire  or  retire  for  the  night,  and  to-morrow  the 
goodwife  must  dip  some  more  candles. 


LIGHT — CANDLES.  71 

When  the  children  go  to  bed  they  have  no  brightly  burn- 
ing lamp  to  light  them  to  their  several  bedrooms,  but  they 
climb  the  ladder  to  the  open,  unfinished  loft  with  no  light 
except  what  comes  to  them  from  the  embers  upon  the  hearth. 
Then  the  father  covers  up  the  coals  with  a  great  body  of  ashes, 
hoping  to  "  keep  the  fire  "  till  morning.  What  a  marked  con- 
trast between  the  life  of  those  people  and  the  customs  of 
to-day  in  the  same  country  and  among  the  grandchildren 
and  the  great-grandchildren  of  those  same  pioneer  settlers ! 

In  the  colonial  days  for  an  evening  service  the  churches 
must  be  lighted  with  candles.  Occasionally  you  will  find 
even  now  in  some  ancient  church  the  antique  candelabra  or 
chandelier.  Sometimes  in  wealthy  churches  these  were 
made  of  glass,  and  were  of  beautiful  construction.  In  the  old 
meeting-house  of  the  first  Baptist  church  in  Providence,  Rhode 
Island,  which  was  founded  by  Roger  Williams  and  others  in 
1639,  there  is  one  of  these  ancient  glass  candelabras.  It  is 
of  immense  proportions,  hanging  from  the  ceiling  by  a  long, 
stout  chain,  and  arranged  for  a  large  number  of  candles.  It 
has  not  been  used  for  many  years,  but  it  is  a  beautiful  orna- 
ment and  a  suggestive  reminder  of  the  method  by  which  our 
ancestors  lighted  their  churches  in  the  early  times. 

In  these  days  of  brilliant  electric  lights,  how  small  appears 
the  light  of  the  ancient  candles !  Have  we  gained  in  knowl- 
edge and  manner  of  living  as  greatly  as  in  heating  and  light- 
ing our  houses? 


CHAPTER   III. 

WHALE    OIL. 

No  one  knows  when  the  whale  fishery  began.  Eight 
hundred  years  ago  whales  were  caught  off  the  coast  of  France 
and  Spain,  and  before  the  Pilgrim  fathers  landed  at  Plymouth 
the  whale  fishery  had  been  carried  on  to  such  an  extent  on  the 
west  coast  of  Europe  that  the  supply  of  whales  had  begun  to 
fail.  The  American  whale'  fishery  began  with  the  earliest 
settlers.  They  found  it  profitable  to  catch  whales  and  try 
out  the  oil  for  use  in  their  lamps.  It  has  been  said  that  one 
of  the  arguments  for  settling  on  Cape  Cod  was  the  presence 
along  the  coast  of  large  whales  of  the  best  kind  for  oil  and 
whalebone. 

The  first  whale  fishery  in  America  was  carried  on  from 
Cape  Cod,  Nantucket,  and  Martha's  Vineyard  by  large  row- 
boats.  A  company  of  hardy  pioneers  would  row  out  from 
the  coast  into  deep  water,  wait  for  the  appearance  of  a 
whale,  strike  their  harpoons  into  his  side,  and  let  him  run. 
Sometimes  it  would  be  days  before  death  would  result. 
Often  he  would  sink  and  later  rise  and  float  upon  the  surface. 
The  fishermen  would  then  pull  him  to  the  shore  and  try  out 
the  oil.  Many  whales  thus  harpooned  would  be  lost  to  those 
who  had  wounded  them.  A  story  is  told  that  in  the  town  of 
Southampton,  Long  Island,  before  the  year  1650,  the  men 
divided  themselves  into  squads  to  watch  night  and  day  for 
whales  that  might  come  ashore,  and  this  became  in  a  few 
years  a  regular  industry. 


LIGHT — WHALE   OIL. 


73 


After  a  time  whaling  vessels  were  fitted  up  and  sent  out 
for  the  capture  of  whales.  These  vessels  cruised  in  all  waters. 
They  coasted  along  Greenland  and  into  the  Arctic  Ocean. 
They  traversed  the  South  Seas,  and  sailed  upon  the  Pacific 
through  all  latitudes  from  Patagonia  to  Bering  Sea.  Great 
vessels — barks,  brigs,  and  full-rigged  ships — manned  with 
large  crews  of  stalwart  men,  with  supplies  for  a  three-years' 
voyage  or  more,  would  leave  home  for  a  cruise  in  foreign 
waters  after  these 
monsters  of  the  deep. 

When  the  whale  is 
killed  its  body  is  towed 
alongside  the  vessel 
and  is  made  fast  by 
the  ship's  chains. 
The  fat  of  the  whale 
is  cut  into  slices, 
and  these  slices  taken 
in  between  decks. 
This  cutting  up — or, 
as  the  sailors  call  it, 

"  cutting  in  " — occupies  the  entire  ship's  company  for  hours. 
The  fat  or  "  blubber,"  as  they  call  it,  is  cut  into  smaller  cubical 
pieces,  heated  in  a  large  pot,  and  the  oil  strained  off.  This 
is  called  "trying  out."  The  oil  is  stored  in  casks  to  be  con- 
veyed home.  A  large  whale  will  give  two  or  three  tons  of 
blubber.  It  is  estimated  that  a  ton  of  blubber  will  yield 
nearly  two  hundred  gallons  of  oil.  Sometimes  a  single 
whale  will  produce  oil  and  whalebone  to  the  value  of  $3,000 
or  $4,000. 

It  will  readily  be  seen  that  whale  fishing  is  both  a  labor- 
ious and  a  dangerous  occupation.     The  wounded  whale  is 


WHALE  FISHING. 


74  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

accustomed  to  strike  violently  with  its  tail  in  the  endeavor 
to  destroy  its  enemies.  Here  is  a  true  story  about  the  ex- 
periences of  one  family  engaged  in  the  whale  fishery.  Long 
before  the  year  1800  and  after  that  date  for  almost  half  a 
century,  New  Bedford,  Nantucket,  Martha's  Vineyard,  and 
Provincetown  in  Massachusetts,  with  Warren  and  Bristol  in 
Rhode  Island,  engaged  very  largely  in  this  hazardous  but 
profitable  business.  In  one  of  these  towns  an  industrious  and 
enterprising  man  of  more  than  ordinary  ability  followed  this 
occupation  for  half  a  century  and  amassed  a  small  fortune. 
He  had  several  sons.  When  the  oldest  grew  to  manhood  he 
very  naturally  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  his  father.  He 
went  to  sea  on  a  whaling  vessel  and  was  lost  during  his  first 
voyage. 

The  second  son  shipped  on  a  whaler.  In  the  Arctic 
waters  he  was  one  day  pursuing  a  whale  that  had  already 
been  wounded,  rowing  with  all  his  might.  The  whale  in 
his  anger  struck  at  the  boat  with  his  huge  tail,  hit  the  oar 
with  which  the  young  man  was  rowing,  and  drove  the  end 
of  it  into  his  mouth,  breaking  the  bones  and  crushing  in  the 
very  interior.  Still  the  young  man  lived.  He  was  tenderly 
cared  for  by  his  shipmates,  and  finally  reached  home.  Then 
he  was  turned  over  to  the  doctors.  Skilful  surgery  supplied 
him  with  a  false  lower  jaw,  a  gold  roof  to  his  mouth,  and  a 
false  palate.  He  lived  many  years  and  was  a  successful  busi- 
ness man.  Had  you  met  him  on  the  street  he  would  have 
talked  with  you  like  any  other  man,  and  you  would  have 
observed  nothing  unusual  except  the  scars  of  two  cuts  on  the 
upper  lip. 

The  third  son  when  eighteen  years  of  age  also  left  home 
on  a  whaling  voyage.  At  the  end  of  three  years  his  ship 
returned  with  a  full  cargo  of  excellent  oil.  The  heavily 


LIGHT — WHALE   OIL.  75 

freighted  vessel  anchored  in  the  bay,  and  the  captain  went 
up  to  the  town  in  a  rowboat  to  announce  his  arrival,  and  to 
tell  the  people  of  the  success  of  the  voyage  and  that  all  were 
well  on  board.  Just  as  the  captain  was  leaving  for  the  shore 
some  young  men  in  the  crew,  wishing  to  celebrate  their  safe 
return,  proposed  firing  the  ship's  swivel-gun.  As  the  cap- 
tain started  over  the  side  of  the  vessel  he  cautioned  them, 
saying  that  the  gun  was  rusty  and  that  it  would  not  be  safe 
to  fire  it.  But  it  was  our  young  friend's  birthday.  He  would 
risk  the  old  gun.  They  ran  it  out  on  deck,  loaded  it  up,  and 
touched  it  off.  There  was  a  terrific  explosion.  The  gun 
burst  and  blew  off  both  hands  of  the  young  man  who  was 
celebrating  his  birthday.  Another  boat  was  pushed  off  for 
the  shore  and  carried  the  wounded  man  to  his  home.  Nothing 
could  save  his  hands ;  they  were  both  amputated  at  the  wrists. 
Through  a  long  life  he  wore  wooden  hands  covered  with  kid 
gloves.  He  was  accustomed  frequently  to  mourn  that  he  had 
not  at  least  one  thumb.  If  he  could  have  had  a  single  thumb 
he  could  have  done  many  things.  Was  it  not  Emerson  who 
said  that  the  thumb  is  the  symbol  of  civilization?  Man 
could  never  have  attained  his  present  position  without  a  thumb. 
For  many  years  this  man,  thus  maimed  for  life,  kept  a 
store  and  sold  groceries  and  ship  supplies.  A  visitor  one  day 
saw  him  weigh  out  for  a  lady  customer  a  quarter  of  a  pound 
of  pepper.  It  was\at  the  noon  hour,  when  the  clerks  were 
all  away  at  dinner.  The  customer  came  and  asked  for  a 
quarter  of  a  pound  of  pepper.  The  storekeeper  pulled  out 
the  drawer,  placed  it  on  the  counter,  put  a  piece  of  paper 
in  the  hopper,  adjusted,  the  scale  to  the  quarter  pound,  slipped 
one  of  his  wooden  fingers  through  the  handle  of  the  little 
tin  scoop,  and  scattered  ^he  pepper  upon  the  paper  until  the 
full  weight  was  made.  He  then  returned  the  drawer  to  its 


76  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

place,  took  off  the  hopper  and  laid  it  upon  the  counter,  pulled 
out  the  paper  and  the  pepper,  doubled  the  paper  over  on  one 
side  and  back  from  the  other  side,  doubled  over  one  end  and 
then  the  other,  picked  it  up  between  his  two  wooden  hands, 
and  handed  it  to  the  customer.  She  placed  the  money  on  the 
back  of  his  hand.  With  the  other  hand  he  pulled  open  the 
money  drawer  and  tossed  the  money  in.  With  both  hands 
he  took  off  his  hat,  picked  up  the  change  with  his  lips,  placed 
the  change  upon  the  back  of  his  hand,  and  passed  it  to  the 
lady.  Three  unfortunate  experiences  in  one  family  would 
seem  to  have  been  enough,  so  the  next  son  never  went  to  sea. 

We  may  now  ask  what  was  the  object  of  all  this  whale 
fishery?  Man  had  made  a  new  invention.  He  had  not  only 
discovered  the  value  of  whale  oil  as  a  material  for  furnishing 
artificial  light,  he  had  also  invented  the  modern  lamp.  In 
the  candle  the  burning  material,  whether  tallow  or  something 
else,  is  solidified  around  the  wick.  The  heat  from  the  burn- 
ing wick  melts  the  tallow  and  the  combustion  gives  light. 

In  the  modern  lamp  the  simple  device  of  a  tube  or  two 
tubes  to  hold  the  wick  is  all  that  is  needed  over  and  above 
those  used  in  ancient  times.  Tin  tubes  are  placed  in  the 
top  of  the  lamp  and  the  wicks  run  up  through  the  tubes. 
The  lamp  then  being  filled  with  oil,  capillary  attraction  will 
bring  the  oil  up  to  the  top  of  the  wick.  The  lamp  when 
lighted  will  burn  until  the  supply  of  oil  is  exhausted. 

The  invention  of  this  modern  lamp,  though  very  simple, 
has  been  of  great  value.  At  first  it  was  made  of  metal- 
lead,  block  tin,  Britannia,  brass — and  finally  of  glass.  Lamps 
of  various  patterns  and  different  sizes  became  common.  For 
a  long  while  very  little  change  was  made  in  this  new  mode 
of  obtaining  light.  This  method  continued  in  common  use 
until  about  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
KEROSENE. 

IT  was  a  long  step  from  the  smoky  and  ill-smelling  whale- 
oil  lamp  to  the  clear  and  brilliant  kerosene  burner.  At  the 
present  time  the  best  illumination  is  furnished  by  gas  and 
electricity,  but  in  the  country  and  to  a  large  extent  in  the 
cities  the  kerosene  lamp  is  still  in  common  use,  and  doubtless 
will  remain  so  for  a  long  time  to  come.  This  lamp  with  its 
recent  important  improvements  is  mainly  of  American  origin 
and  development. 

Kerosene  for  lighting  purposes  has  some  advantages  over 
gas  or  electricity.  The  light  produced  from  it  is  steady; 
therefore  it  is  less  harmful  to  the  eyes  than  the  flickering 
light  of  illuminating  gas,  and  even  better  than  the  electric 
light.  It  is  far  cheaper  than  either.  It  has  a  third  advan- 
tage, since  it  can  be  used  in  a  hand  lamp  which  can  be  car- 
ried from  place  to  place.  A  large  portion  of  our  population 
consider  it  so  valuable  that  they  would  rather  give  up  the 
gaslight  altogether,  or  indeed  the  electric  light,  than  be 
obliged  to  lose  the  kerosene  lamp. 

Kerosene  is  a  form  of  petroleum  which  is  obtained  from 
the  earth  by  deep  wells.  It  is  only  within  the  last  fifty  years 
that  this  oil  has  been  pumped  in  sufficient  quantities  to  make 
it  a  valuable  industry,  though  petroleum  was  obtained  here 
and  there  in  small  quantities  far  back  in  the  early  ages.  It 
seems  a  little  singular  that  the  people  of  Japan  and  Persia 
should  have  dug  oil  wells  centuries  ago.  Herodotus,  who 


78  AMERICAN   INVENTORS   AND    INVENTIONS. 

wrote  history  five  hundred  years  before  Christ,  tells  us  of  the 
springs  of  Zante,  one  of  the  Ionian  Islands  in  the  Mediterra- 
nean Sea,  from  which  oil  flowed.  It  is  said  that  these 
springs  are  still  flowing. 

China  seems  to  have  been  the  first  country  to  draw  oil 
from  artesian  wells.  We  proud  Americans  are  accustomed 
to  think  ourselves  a  little  ahead  of  all  other  people.  When 
an  American  boy  in  San  Francisco,  for  instance,  meets  a  Chi- 
nese lad,  he  is  quite  apt  to  look  down  upon  him  and  to  think 
that  this  little  Chinese  boy  came  from  a  country  hardly  civil- 
ized and  certainly  far  behind  the  "  universal  Yankee  nation ; " 
yet  we  are  constantly  finding  traces  of  a  civilization  in  China 
much  earlier  than  our  own. 

The  first  successful  oil  well  in  this  country  was  made  by 
Col.  E.  L.  Drake,  near  Titusville,  Pennsylvania.  In  1854  the 
Pennsylvania  Rock-Oil  Company  was  organized  for  the  pur- 
pose of  procuring  petroleum  in  Oil  Creek.  Four  years  later 
this  company  employed  Colonel  Drake  to  drill  an  artesian 
well.  On  the  29th  of  August,  1859,  ^e  "struck  oil"  only 
sixty-nine  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  ground.  The  next 
day  this  well  was  found  to  be  nearly  full  of  petroleum. 

Oil  is  now  found  in  large  quantities  in  various  sections  of 
Pennsylvania,  New  York,  Indiana,  and  Kentucky,  and  it  has 
recently  been  discovered  in  California,  Wyoming,  Colorado, 
and  other  portions  of  our  land.  The  largest  part  of  the  oil 
used  in  commerce  is  from  Pennsylvania.  At  the  present 
time  more  than  fifty  million  barrels  of  petroleum  are  pro- 
duced annually  in  the  United  States  alone,  which  is  more 
than  half  of  the  entire  product  of  the  world.  A  single  well 
has  been  known  to  yield  forty  thousand  gallons  a  day,  flow- 
ing freely  without  the  slightest  use  of  pumping  apparatus. 

The  product  of  these  wells  after  a  time  greatly  diminishes 


LIGHT — KEROSENE. 


79 


and  sometimes  ceases  altogether.  In  such  cases  it  is  custom- 
ary to  explode  torpedoes  at  the  bottom  of  the  well.  This  is 
done  by  placing  there  several  gallons  of  nitroglycerine  with 
a  fulminating  cap  on  top.  This  cap  is  exploded  by  dropping 
a  piece  of  iron  upon  it.  The  explosion  opens  the  seams  and 
crevices  around  the  bottom  of  the  well  so  as  to  renew  the 
flow  of  oil. 

It  is  now  about  forty  years  since  the  first  introduction  of 
kerosene  as  an  article  of  commerce.  To-day  it  is  in  almost 
universal  use 
throughout  the  civil- 
ized world.  It  gives 
a  convenient  light  at 
a  moderate  expense, 
and  has  therefore 
proved  a  great  bless- 
ing to  mankind. 
Meantime  the  whale 
fishery  has  largely 

diminished ;  indeed,  it  would  seem  to  be  almost  destroyed. 
The  reasons  for  this  are  not  difficult  to  find.  In  the  first 
place,  the  number  of  whales  is  much  less  than  formerly,  so 
that  this  business  is  far  less  profitable  than  it  used  to  be.  In 
the  second  place,  the  rapid  development  of  the  kerosene  in- 
dustry has  so  cheapened  the  product  that  people  cannot  af- 
ford to  light  their  houses  with  whale  oil,  especially  as  they 
find  the  kerosene  not  only  cheaper,  but  more  convenient  and 
satisfactory. 

Common  whale  oil  previous  to  1850  had  been  furnished 
at  an  average  cost  of  perhaps  fifty  cents  a  gallon,  while  the 
sperm  oil,  which  is  of  superior  quality,  cost  as  much  as  one 
dollar  a  gallon.  The  people  of  the  whole  country  east  of  the 


OIL  WELLS. 


80  AMERICAN    INVENTORS   AND   INVENTIONS. 

Rocky  Mountains  feed  their  lamps  to-day  with  kerosene  at  a 
cost  of  from  eight  cents  to  twelve  cents  a  gallon. 

A  few  persons  have  made  great  fortunes  from  the  oil 
wells.  On  the  other  hand,  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that 
the  modern  processes  of  purifying  kerosene  could  not  have 
been  put  in  operation  without  the  aid  of  large  fortunes.  A 
cheap  and  satisfactory  light  has  been  furnished  to  all  the 
people  of  the  United  States  only  by  means  of  the  great  capi- 
tal employed  in  its  production. 

So  you  see  civilization  is  progressing,  and  we  are  all  en- 
joying more  blessings  and  conveniences  than  our  fathers 
had.  In  the  earlier  times  every  one  had  to  labor  diligently 
to  secure  food,  clothing,  and  shelter.  As  civilization  ad- 
vances these  require  less  time  and  expense,  and  we  have 
greater  opportunities  to  attend  to  the  development  of  our 
higher  natures,  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  the  pursuit  of 
science,  and  the  elevation  of  the  race. 


CHAPTER    V. 
ILLUMINATING  GAS. 

THUS  far  our  various  methods  of  artificial  lighting  have 
been  very  simple.  At  first  men  burned  the  pitch  from  the 
pine,  and  it  produced  a  flame ;  then  they  burned  olive  oil 
through  a  wick,  and  it  gave  forth  a  flame.  The  tallow  in 
the  candle  was  burned  through  a  wick,  and  it  made  a  light; 
the  whale  oil  in  the  lamp  was  burned  by  means  of  a  wick, 
and  a  light  was  the  result.  In  the  same  way  refined  petro- 
leum, which  we  call  kerosene,  was  burned  by  means  of  a 
wick,  and  that  gave  a  strong  light.  These  methods  of  light- 
ing were  all  very  similar. 

We  come  now  to  a  real  invention.  What  would  a  boy  of 
the  year  1800,  could  he  return  to  the  earth,  say  to  see  you 
strike  a  match,  turn  a  stopcock,  and  light  the  gas  as  you  do 
to-day?  He  has  never  seen  a  match.  He  is  just  as  ignorant 
of  a  stopcock,  and  surely  it  would  be  difficult  for  him  to  un- 
derstand the  burning  of  the  gas.  Many  things  would  need 
to  be  explained  to  this  boy  of  a  hundred  years  ago.  He 
must  be  told  all  about  the  production  of  illuminating  gas, 
the  storing  of  that  gas  under  pressure,  the  transportation  of 
it  to  the  place  where  the  light  is  wanted,  and  the  proper  ap- 
paratus for  turning  it  on,  setting  it  on  fire,  and  regulating  its 
pressure  so  as  to  produce  a  steady,  uniform  light. 

Before  the  year  1700  Dr.  John  Clayton,  an  Englishman, 
prepared  gas  from  bituminous  coal,  collected  it,  and  burned 
it  for  the  amusement  of  his  friends.  An  English  bishop  in 
6 


82  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

1767  showed  how  gas  could  be  produced  from  coal  and  how 
it  might  be  conveyed  in  tubes.  These  were  the  first  two 
steps  toward  our  present  almost  universal  illumination  by 
gas:  making  gas  and  conveying  it  in  tubes. 

The  real  inventor  of  practical  gas-lighting  was  William 
Murdoch,  of  Cornwall,  England,  who  sometime  before  the 
year  1800  carried  pipes  through  his  house  and  office,  and 
lighted  the  various  rooms  with  gas  which  he  had  made  from 
coal.  Indeed,  Murdoch  did  more  than  this :  he  lighted  with 
his  new  gas  a  small  steam  carriage  in  which  he  rode  to  and 
from  his  mines.  In  1802  he  first  publicly  exhibited  this  gas- 
lighting  in  Ayrshire,  Scotland,  and  showed  two  immense 
flames  from  coal  gas.  Nor  did  he  stop  here,  for  in  1805  he 
succeeded  in  lighting  some  cotton  mills  by  the  same  method. 

In  our  country  various  experiments  were  made,  but  with- 
out any  practical  result  until  182 1,  when  illuminating  gas  was 
successfully  manufactured  and  used  in  Baltimore.  In  1827 
the  New  York  Gaslight  Company  introduced  this  new 
method  into  many  houses  and  sold  the  gas  to  the  people  for 
lighting  purposes. 

That  was  over  seventy  years  ago.  What  a  change  has  been 
made  within  these  seventy  years !  In  cities  and  large  towns 
almost  every  new  house  is  piped  for  gas.  Gas  companies 
are  formed  for  supplying  this  illuminating  product  to  the  in- 
habitants. Gas  meters  have  been  perfected  which  measure 
the  quantity  of  gas,  so  that  one  pays  for  no  more  than  he 
uses.  Moreover,  the  towns  and  cities  put  up  street  lights 
which  burn  this  same  gas  in  the  night,  making  it  easy,  con- 
venient, and  safe  to  traverse  the  streets  at  any  hour. 

Bituminous  or  soft  coal  is  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
illuminating  gas,  as  anthracite  contains  less  of  the  needed 
materials.  Gases  are  easily  driven  off  from  bituminous  coal 


LIGHT — ILLUMINATING   GAS. 


whenever  it  is  heated,  if  air  is  kept  from  it.  At  the  works, 
therefore,  the  coal  is  placed  in  large  closed  ovens,  called 
retorts.  These  are  directly  over  furnace  fires,  which  are 
kept  vigorously 
burning.  The  gases 
pass  out  of  the  coal 
and,  rising,  enter  a 
series  of  long  pipes. 
The  coal  which  is 
left  in  the  retorts 
is  called  coke.  This 
process  is  called  dis- 
tillation. 

Many  substances 
pass  off  with  the  gas, 
from  which  it  must 
be  cleaned.  Tar  and 

ammonia  become  liq-  A  GASOMETER. 

uids     when     cooled, 

and  are  left  behind  as  the  gas  passes  through  cold  water. 
The  series  of  iron  pipes  in  which  this  process  is  carried  on 
is  called  the  condenser.  Then  the  gas  is  carried  through  the 
purifier,  in  which  all  other  impurities  are  removed. 

When  thoroughly  purified  the  gas  passes  into  the  gas 
omcter.  This  usually  consists  of  two  round  iron  cylinders  of 
nearly  the  same  size,  one  inside  of  the  other.  The  outside 
cylinder  has  no  roof ;  the,  inside  has  no  floor.  The  sides  of 
the  inner  one  go  down  into  a  trench  filled  with  water.  Its 
top  is  held  up  by  the  gas,  which  comes  into  it  from  the 
purifier. 

The  roof  of  the  inner  cylinder  presses  down  heavily  upon 
the  gas,  pushing  it  into  the  large  main  pipes,  which  run  from 


84  AMERICAN    INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

the  gasometer  through  the  principal  streets.  Smaller  mains 
connect  with  these  and  the  gas  is  pushed  into  the  service  pipes, 
which  enter  the  houses.  When  a  stopcock  is  opened  in  any 
house  the  pressure  of  the  gasometer  pushes  the  gas  through, 
it  may  be,  miles  of  pipes,  and  out  through  the  burner,  where 
it  may  be  lighted. 

Many  houses  have  a  simple  electric-lighting  attachment, 
so  that  by  merely  turning  a  stopcock  the  gas  is  turned  on 
and  by  pulling  a  chain  an  electric  spark  sets  the  gas  on  fire, 
flooding  the  room  with  light. 

Within  a  few  years  illuminating  gas  has  greatly  diminished 
in  price.  It  costs  a  little  more  than  kerosene,  but  it  is  more 
convenient  in  many  ways.  The  danger  of  carrying  lamps 
from  room  to  room  is  avoided,  as  well  as  the  disagreeable 
task  of  filling  them.  Still  the  gas  flame  is  less  steady  than 
that  of  the  kerosene  lamp,  and  is  therefore  less  serviceable 
for  reading.  For  the  poor  man  the  kerosene  light  is  a  great 
blessing,  while  for  all  who  can  afford  the  extra  cost  the  gas- 
light is  a  greater  convenience. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ELECTRIC    LIGHTING. 

THE  electric  light  differs  widely  from  all  modes  of  artifi- 
cial light  previously  invented.  It  is  the  latest  method  that 
man  has  discovered  for  the  production  of  light.  In  its  prac- 
tical form  this  invention  is  quite  recent.  In  England  the 
arc  light  was  produced  in  lecture-room  experiments  as  early 
as  1802.  Prof.  Michael  Faraday,  a  learned  Englishman  and 
celebrated  chemist,  experimented  many  years  in  electricity 
and  magnetism  in  the  Royal  Institution  at  London.  He 
continued  his  studies  and  experiments  in  developing  the 
science  of  electricity  through  his  whole  life,  but  he  died,  an 
old  man,  before  a  single  electric  arc  was  seen  in  the  streets 
of  London. 

In  ancient  times  an  invention  was  frequently  the  result 
of  one  man's  efforts,  but  at  the  present  time  it  is  often  quite 
otherwise.  Many  men  are  now  engaged  in  the  development 
of  electric  lighting.  Charles  Francis-Brush  was  a  farmer's 
boy  in  Ohio.  He  pushed  himself  through  the  Cleveland 
High  School  and  graduated  at  the  University  of  Michigan. 
He  established  a  laboratory  in  Cleveland  and  turned  his  at- 
tention to  the  invention  of  apparatus  for  electric  lighting. 
He  was  one  of  three  or  four  great  American  inventors  who 
successfully  put  into  operation  the  dynamo  and  furnished 
electricity  for  the  electrical  lamp.  This  dynamo  is  a  machine 
which  produces  electric  currents  by  mechanical  power. 
Brush's  dynamo  at  the  outset  was  so  perfect  and  complete 


86 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 


that  for  many  years  it  has  continued  in  regular  use  with  but 
very  little  change. 

Elihu  Thomson  graduated  at  the  Central  High  School  in 
Philadelphia  and  taught  chemistry  in  that  school.     He  studied 
with  great  care  the  subject  of  electricity,  giving  special  atten- 
tion to  lighting.     He  organized  the  Thomson-Houston  Elec- 
tric  Company,   and    has    pa- 
tented   nearly    two    hundred 
inventions  relating  to  electric 
lighting   and    other   applica- 
tions of  electricity.     He  was 
also  the  inventor  of  the  sys- 
tem of  electric  welding. 

Among  the  great  Ameri- 
can inventors  in  electrical 
science  is  Thomas  Alva  Edi- 
son. He  was  an  Ohio  boy 
whose  Scotch  mother  taught 
him  to  read.  When  he  was 
twelve  years  old  he  was  a 
newsboy  on  the  Grand  Trunk 
Railroad.  Here  he  acquired 

the  habit  of  reading.  He  studied  chemistry  and  conducted 
chemical  experiments  on  the  train.  He  learned  to  set  type, 
and  edited  and  printed  a  newspaper  in  the  baggage  car.  He 
was  constantly  noticing  the  telegraph  stations  along  the  road, 
and  he  soon  began  to  study  electricity. 

One  day  the  little  child  of  a  station  master  was  playing 
on  the  track  just  as  a  freight  car  was  moving  down  toward 
him.  Almost  as  swift  as  lightning  itself  young  Edison 
dashed  out,  stepped  in  front  of  the  coming  car,  and  at  the 
risk  of  his  own  life  snatched  the  child  from  danger.  In 


EDISON'S  HEROIC  ACT. 


LIGHT — ELECTRIC   LIGHTING.  »7 

gratitude  the  station  master,  knowing  the  boy's  interest  in 
the  telegraph,  taught  him  how  to  use  a  machine.  After  that 
he  acquired  great  skill  in  this  art  and  operated  in  many  sec- 
tions of  the  country,  perfecting  himself  in  the  subject. 

For  over  twenty  years  he  has  had  a  large  establishment, 
with  an  immense  workshop  and  many  mechanics,  at  Menlo 
Park,  N.  J.,  where  he  has  devoted  his  whole  attention  to  in- 
venting. He  has  perfected  his  system  of  duplex  telegraphy 
and  invented  the  carbon  telephone-transmitter,  the  phono- 
graph, the  platinum  burner,  and  the  carbon  burner  for  the 
incandescent  light.  He  has  patented  very  many  inventions, 
and  his  system  of  electric  lighting  for  houses  is  now  in  gen- 
eral use.  Edison's  whole  life  is  an  interesting  study  for 
young  people. 

At  the  present  time  the  two  methods  of  lighting  by  elec- 
tricity are  the  arc  light  and  the  incandescent  light.  The  arc 
light  is  used  for  lighting  large  buildings  like  churches,  halls, 
and  railway  stations,  and  for  lighting  the  streets  of  a  city. 
The  incandescent  light,  or  the  glow-lamp  as  it  is  called  in 
England,  is  in  general  use  for  lighting  dwelling  houses. 
This  lamp  consists  of  a  glass  bulb  from  which  air  has  been 
excluded  so  that  it  is  almost  a  perfect  vacuum  and  in  which 
is  inserted  a  looped  filament  of  carbon.  The  electricity  is 
made  to  pass  through  this  carbon  wire,  which  is  thereby 
heated  to  a  white  heat  and  thus  furnishes  the  light.  Being 
in  a  vacuum,  the  carbon  is  but  slightly  burned.  It  there- 
fore can  be  subjected  to  this  heat  for  a  long  time  without 
breaking  or  wearing  out. 

At  first  Edison  used  a  platinum  wire  in  the  little  electric 
lamp.  He  wanted  something  better.  He  needed  some 
form  of  bamboo  or  other  vegetable  fibre.  He  sent  a  man 
to  explore  China  and  Japan  for  bamboo.  He  sent  another,  who 


88  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

traveled  twenty-three  hundred  miles  up  the  Amazon  River 
and  finally  reached  the  Pacific  coast,  searching  for  bamboo. 
He  sent  a  third  to  Ceylon  to  spend  years  in  a  similar  search. 
Eighty  varieties  of  bamboo  and  three  thousand  specimens  of 
other  vegetable  fibre  were  brought  him.  He  tested  them  all; 
three  or  four  were  found  suitable. 

This  system  of  incandescent  lights  has  been  rapidly  ex- 
tended within  a  few  years.  There  are  millions  of  these 
lights  now  in  use  in  this  country.  They  are  used  not  only 
for  lighting  the  rooms  of  hotels  and  private  houses,  but  also 
for  lighting  steamships,  railway  trains,  and  street  cars,  and 
for  nearly  all  indoor  illumination.  This  light  is  not  as  cheap 
as  kerosene  or  gaslight,  but  it  is  so  convenient  and  so  simple, 
requiring  no  daily  care,  that  it  is  rapidly  coming  into  use  in 
all  towns  and  cities. 

Among  its  advantages  may  be  named  the  four  following 
points.  Matches  are  not  needed  in  making  a  light.  Thus 
the  danger  from  accidental  fires,  which  have  so  frequently 
occurred  from  the  careless  use  of  matches,  is  avoided.  Very 
little  heat  results  from  an  electric  light,  while  from  kerosene 
lamps  and  gaslight  much  heat  is  produced.  In  warm  weather 
this  freedom  from  heat  is  agreeable.  The  burning  lamp  and 
the  gas  jet  make  the  air  of  the  room  impure  and  unfit  for 
breathing.  This  is  not  true  of  the  electric  light.  In  the  use 
of  kerosene  and  of  illuminating  gas  there  is  frequently  dan- 
ger of  explosion.  Not  so  with  the  electric  light. 

It  will  be  seen  that  we  are  thus  using  to-day  for  lighting 
purposes  occasionally  the  candle,  quite  largely  the  kerosene 
lamp,  and  to  a  great  extent  in  towns  and  cities  the  gaslight, 
and  best  of  all — the  cleanest,  the  neatest,  giving  the  brightest 
light,  requiring  the  least  attention  from  the  consumer,  and 
manifesting  the  highest  development  of  man's  inventive 


LIGHT — ELECTRIC    LIGHTING.  89 

genius  thus  far — the  electric  light.  Here  at  present  man's 
invention  in  this  direction  has  stopped.  What  the  next  step 
will  be,  no  one  can  tell. 

Slowly  through  the  ages  man  has  been  developing.  Grad- 
ually he  has  grown  in  mental  power  and  advanced  morally 
and  spiritually.  It  is  very  clear  that  although  he  is  an  ani- 
mal and  has  the  nature  and  desires  of  an  animal,  he  has  high 
mental  capacity  and  is  endowed  with  a  spiritual  nature,  a 
soul.  At  the  very  beginning  of  creation  we  are  told,  "  God 
said,  Let  there  be  light:  and  there  was  light."  How  and 
whence  it  came  we  cannot  tell.  It  would  almost  seem  that 
man  in  his  effort  to  create  light  has  kept  step  with  his  own 
development.  The  first  light  was  produced  from  the  sim- 
plest substances,  solids:  wood  on  the  hearth,  the  pitch-pine 
knot,  and  the  candle.  Then  followed  light  produced  from 
liquids:  olive  oil,  whale  oil,  refined  petroleum.  Afterward 
the  inventive  genius  of  man  extracted  from  coal  an  invisible 
gas  which  would  burn  and  give  a  bright,  clear  light.  Ris- 
ing higher  and  higher,  man  soars  above  all  solids,  liquids, 
and  gases,  and  with  a  sudden  bound  leaps  almost  out  of  the 
realm  of  matter  and  produces  the  electric  light,  which  is 
merely  a  form  of  motion.  How  clearly  the  progress  of  man, 
his  elevation,  his  civilization,  his  increased  conveniences  and 
luxuries  of  life  are  made  to  appear  in  this  study  of  his 
methods  of  obtaining  artificial  light ! 


CHAPTER  VII. 
LIGHTHOUSES. 

WE  have  seen  that  artificial  light  is  needed  at  night  not 
only  in  houses,  churches,  and  public  halls,  but  also  in  the 
streets  of  large  towns  and  cities  for  the  benefit  of  those  who 
have  occasion  to  travel  after  dark.  Still  further,  it  has  been 
found  necessary  to  light  the  shores  of  the  great  sea,  so  that 
vessels  may  not  run  upon  the  rocks  in  the  darkness  and  be 
stove  to  pieces. 

The  building  of  lighthouses  has  chiefly  developed  during 
the  present  century,  although  a  few  lighthouses  were  known 
to  the  ancients.  The  full  history  of  lighthouses,  if  v/e  could 
trace  it,  would  be  very  interesting.  If  you  were  asked  where 
the  first  lighthouse  was  built  you  would  be  quite  likely  to 
guess  right  the  first  time,  because  you  know  that  the  first 
ships  and  the  first  sailors  were  around  the  eastern  part  of  the 
Mediterranean  Sea.  You  would  certainly  say  somewhere 
along  the  eastern  coast  of  that  sea.  Now  as  a  matter  of 
fact  there  was  a  lighthouse  on  the  island  of  Pharos,  just  in 
front  of  the  city  of  Alexandria,  which  was  built  over  three 
hundred  years  before  Christ.  This  was  one  of  the  most  cele- 
brated towers  of  antiquity ;  in  fact,  it  is  classed  among  the 
Seven  Wonders  of  the  World.  It  is  quite  likely,  however, 
that  this  was  not  the  first  lighthouse.  Probably  there  were 
towers  on  the  Dardanelles,  the  Sea  of  Marmora,  and  the 
Bosphorus  which  may  have  preceded  the  Pharos  of  Alexan- 
dria. 


LIGHT — LIGHTHOUSES.  9! 

The  Romans  built  lighthouses  at  Ostia,  Ravenna,  Puteoli 
and  other  ports.     All  these  ancient  lighthouses  were  towers 
on  the  top  of  which  wood  was  burned  at  night,  and  the  blaze 
of  the  burning  wood  furnished  the  light  which  was  to  guide 
the  mariner. 

Two  or  three  centuries  ago  many  lighthouses  were  built 
along  the  shores  of  France  and  England.  The  first  light- 
house on  the  coast  of  our  country  was  Boston  Light,  at  the 
entrance  to  Boston  harbor,  which  was  erected  in  the  year 
1716.  Ever  since  the  United  States  government  has  been 
established,  much  attention  has  been  paid  to  our  system  of 
lighthouses.  In  1852  a  lighthouse  board  was  established 
within  the  department  of  the  United  States  Treasury. 

Great  skill  and  engineering  ability  are  needed  in  the  con- 
struction of  lighthouses.  Our  country  has  long  Atlantic, 
Pacific,  and  lake  coasts  to  be  protected,  besides  numerous 
rivers  extending  over  thousands  of  miles.  All  along  these 
coasts  and  rivers  our  government  has  established  and  main- 
tains lighthouses.  We  have  nearly  a  thousand  lights  on  the 
Altantic  coast,  nearly  two  hundred  upon  the  Pacific,  and 
several  hundred  along  the  shores  of  the  Northern  Lakes.  The 
United  States  has  also  many  fog  signals  and  almost  innumer- 
able buoys.  Great  sums  of  money  are  necessary  to  build  these 
lighthouses,  many  of  which  are  now  of  iron.  Twelve  of  our 
most  famous  lighthouses  have  cost  a  total  sum  of  upward  of 
$3,000,000  for  their  construction.  Each  year  witnesses  a 
steady  improvement  in  the  method  of  construction  and  of 
lighting  this  multitude  of  lighthouses. 

At  first,  fires  burning  at  the  tops  of  lighthouses  were  the 
only  signals  and  guides  at  night.  Then  came  the  use  of  oil 
in  lamps,  with  reflectors  constructed  for  the  purpose.  At 
first  in  this  country  fish  oil  was  used,  and  after  that  sperm 


92  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

oil.  Within  the  last  ten  years  refined  petroleum  has  been 
almost  universally  adopted  for  lighthouses  in  the  United 
States.  At  present  about  a  million  gallons  are  used  in  a 
year.  We  have  only  a  few  electric  lights,  though  two  are 
now  in  use  on  the  Atlantic  coast  and  two  or  three  upon  the 
lakes. 

In  late  years  commerce  has  been  rapidly  extended.  The 
merchant  marine  of  the  nations  has  grown  to  gigantic  pro- 
portions. The  amount  of  travel  not  only  coastwise  but  across 
the  ocean  for  pleasure  and  profit  has  become  enormous.  The 
nations  are  coming  closer  together  and  becoming  better  ac- 
quainted with  each  other.  All  this  promotes  civilization,  and 
will  ere  long,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  operate  to  prevent  interna- 
tional wars. 

England  has  many  famous  lighthouses.  Great  Britain  is 
an  island  and  her  coast  shows  a  continuous  series  of  indenta- 
tions. Perhaps  the  most  famous  of  her  lighthouses  is  the 
Eddystone  Light,  a  few  miles  off  from  Plymouth. 

If  you  will  look  on  your  map  of  Great  Britain  you  will 
find  that  the  county  of  Northumberland  is  the  extreme 
northern  end  of  England,  bordering  on  the  North  Sea  and 
adjoining  the  southeast  corner  of  Scotland.  Off  that  coast 
you  will  see  a  little  group  of  islands  called  the  Fame  Islands. 
At  low  tide  there  are  twenty-five  of  them.  On  one  of  these 
little  islands,  early  in  the  present  century,  stood  the  Long- 
stone  Lighthouse.  It  was  a  solitary  place,  and  sometimes 
weeks  would  pass  without  any  communication  with  the  main- 
land. The  keeper  of  this  light  was  William  Darling,  a  man 
of  intelligence,  who  gave  a  fair  education  to  each  of  his  large 
family  of  children.  One  of  these  was  a  daughter  whose  name 
was  Grace.  Think  what  the  youth  of  an  intelligent  girl  would 
be  on  one  of  the  Fame  Islands.  They  are  extremely  desolate. 


LIGHT — LIGHTHOUSES.  93 

are  covered  with  rocks,  and  have  very  little  vegetation  and 
very  little  animal  life  except  sea  fowl. 

Through  the  channels  between  these  islands  the  sea  rushes 
with  great  force,  and  many  a  brave  ship  has  gone  down,  dashed 
to  pieces  upon  the  rocks.  In  1838  a  large  steamer  named  the 
Forfarshire  struck  these  rocks  and  was  broken  in  two  within 
sight  of  Longstone  Lighthouse.  This  steamer  had  on  board 
more  than  forty  passengers  and  twenty  officers  and  crew. 
Three  persons  only  were  in  the  lighthouse — Mr.  Darling,  his 
wife,  and  Grace.  The  storm  was  furious,  the  sea  was  run- 
ning high,  and  through  the  mist,  with  the  aid  of  his  glass, 
Mr.  Darling  could  make  out  the  figures  of  the  sufferers  who 
were  still  clinging  to  the  broken  vessel.  The  lighthouse- 
keeper  shrank  from  attempting  their  rescue,  but  Grace  in- 
sisted that  they  must  make  the  effort  to  save  them  from  cer- 
tain death.  Even  the  launching  of  the  boat  was  extremely 
hazardous.  The  old  lighthouse -keeper  thought  it  impossible, 
but  he  could  not  resist  the  pleadings  of  his  daughter.  The 
mother  helped  to  launch  the  boat;  the  father  and  daughtei 
entered  it  and  each  took  an  oar.  It  was  a  terrible  undertak- 
ing to  row  the  frail  boat,  and  it  required  not  only  great  mus- 
cular power  but  the  most  determined  courage. 

The  rescuers  succeeded  in  reaching  the  rocks,  but  found 
great  difficulty  in  steadying  the  boat  to  prevent  it  from  being 
destroyed  on  the  sharp  ridges.  There  were  nine  persons 
clinging  to  the  broken  vessel.  These  nine  were  all  rescued. 
By  tremendous  energy,  great  skill,  and  almost  superhuman 
efforts  they  were  rowed  back  to  the  lighthouse  in  safety. 

This  heroic  deed  of  a  young  woman  scarcely  twenty-three 
years  of  age  was  heralded  abroad  until  she  became  well  known 
all  over  Europe,  and  the  lonely  lighthouse  was  soon  the  cen- 
tre of  attraction  to  thousands  of  curious  and  sympathizing 


94 


AMERICAN    INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 


persons.  The  Humane  Society  sent  her  a  most  flattering 
vote  of  thanks,  and  a  public  subscription  was  raised  amount- 
ing to  about  thirty-five  hundred  dollars.  Testimonials  of 
all  kinds  were  showered  upon  her,  which  produced  in  her 
mind  only  a  sense  of  wonder  and  grateful  pleasure. 

This  brief  outline  of  Grace  Darling  is  here  given  because 
her  heroism  served  to  call  the  attention  of  the  world  to 
the  importance  of  lighthouses  and  the  isolated  life  of  the 

keepers  and  their 
families.  You  will 
find  a  picturesque 
account  of  the  life 
of  Grace  Darling  in 
the  first  volume  of 
Chambers's  "  Mis- 
c  e  1 1  a  n  y  .  "  This 
story  does  not  stand 
alone  in  lighthouse 
annals,  but  again 
and  again  has  it 
been  matched  in 
later  times  and 
in  our  own  country. 

One  of  the  most  famous  lighthouse  heroines  in  America 
was  Miss  Ida  Lewis,  whose  father  kept  the  Limestone  Light- 
house at  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  of  Newport,  R.  I.  This 
lighthouse-keeper's  daughter  very  early  in  life  became  skilled 
in  rowing  and  swimming.  One  day,  when  she  was  eighteen 
years  of  age,  four  young  men  were  upset  in  a  boat  in  the 
harbor.  Ida  quickly  launched  her  own  skiff,  pushed  off,  res- 
cued them,  and  brought  them  safely  to  shore. 

At  another  time  three  drunken  soldiers  had  stove  a  hole 


GRACE  DARLING. 


LIGHT — LIGHTHOUSES.  95 

in  their  boat  not  far  from  the  lighthouse.  Two  swam  ashore 
and  Ida  reached  their  boat  in  season  to  save  the  third.  Two 
years  afterward  a  sheep  was  being  driven  down  the  wharf 
when  the  animal  plunged  into  the  water.  Three  men  run- 
ning along  the  shore  in  pursuit  found  a  boat  and  pushed  out 
after  the  sheep.  A  heavy  "  sou'wester  "  was  blowing  and  the 
boat  was  carried  away  into  deep  water.  Ida  Lewis,  in  spite 
of  the  high  wind,  rowed  out  in  her  little  skiff  and  brought 
them  safely  ashore. 

One  winter  a  young  scapegrace  stole  a  sailboat  from  the 
wharf  and  put  out  to  sea.  About  midnight  the  gale  drove 
the  boat  upon  the  Limestone  rocks  a  mile  from  the  light,  but 
the  boy  clung  to  the  mast  all  night.  In  the  morning  Ida 
Lewis  found  him,  as  she  said,  "shaking  and  God-blessing  me 
and  praying  to  be  set  on  shore. "  By  these  and  other  instances 
in  which  Miss  Lewis  rescued  those  in  danger  she  became 
famous,  and  her  praises  were  heralded  in  the  newspapers  and 
spoken  at  many  firesides.  The  citizens  of  Newport  presented 
her  with  a  boat  as  a  token  of  their  admiration  of  her  bravery. 

These  famous  instances  and  many  more  that  could  be  added 
to  them  would  seem  to  indicate  that  life  in  a  lighthouse,  with 
the  mind  constantly  running  out  to  the  sea,  becoming  famil- 
iar with  the  storms  that  rise,  and  observing  the  dash  of  the 
waves  and  the  roar  of  the  wind — life  inured  to  hardship,  but 
shut  up  within  the  safe  keeping  of  the  solid  walls  of  the  little 
tower  high  above  the  raging  waves — it  would  seem  that  such 
a  life  is  calculated  to  give  courage,  strength,  and  fortitude, 
and  to  endue  the  heart  with  a  heroic  forgetfulness  of  self. 

How  important  is  the  position  of  a  lighthouse-keeper! 
Many  lives  are  in  his  hands,  and  on  his  fidelity  depends  the 
safety  of  millions  of  dollars  of  property.  Boats  and  ships  of 
all  kinds,  steamers  great  and  small,  sail  away  from  one  shore 


96  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

of  the  vast  sea  to  the  opposite  shore,  or  along  the  coast,  all 
in  comparative  safety  because  of  the  various  beacon  lights. 

Indeed,  is  not  the  lighthouse  itself  a  great  lesson  in  morals? 
Every  one  of  us — every  one  of  the  seventy  million  people  of 
the  United  States  has  a  part  in  the  lighthouse.  It  is  we,  the 
people,  who  are  furnishing  the  government  with  its  resources, 
and  it  is  the  great  government  of  our  country  that  builds  the 
lighthouses  to  warn  mariners  of  danger.  The  modern  light- 
house is  the  symbol  of  benevolence.  It  carries  with  it  the 
lesson  of  "  loving  thy  neighbor  as  thyself. "  This  is  the  lesson 
of  the  lighthouse  to  the  people  of  the  land,  though  its  service 
is  performed  for  the  people  of  the  sea. 


CYRUS  H.     MCCORMICK- 


SECTION  III.-FOOD. 


SECTION  III.— FOOD. 

CHAPTER  I. 
UNCULTIVATED    FOODS. 

HEAT  and  light — each  is  necessary  for  our  bodily  comfort 
and  well-being.  We  have  seen  that  much  time  and  thought 
have  been  spent  during  the  past  three  hundred  years  in  pro- 
viding the  most  satisfactory  methods  for  heating  and  lighting 
our  houses.  We  have  found  that  wood  and  coal  in  our  fire- 
places, stoves,  and  furnaces  have  given  us  the  best  heat.  We 
have  learned  that  kerosene  and  gas  made  from  coal  are  the 
most  common  sources  of  light.  Even  electricity,  the  latest 
means  for  producing  light  and  heat,  usually  needs  the  power 
of  steam  for  its  development ;  and  heat  is  necessary  to  pro- 
duce steam.  We  have  a  common  name  for  the  wood,  the 
coal,  the  gas,  and  the  oil,  from  the  burning  of  which  heat  and 
light  result ;  this  name  is  fuel. 

Another  form  of  fuel  is  even  more  necessary  than  coal  and 
wood.  In  the  winter  we  warm  our  rooms  so  that  we  may  not 
suffer  from  the  cold ;  but  the  stove  does  not  warm  us  when  out 
of  doors.  Then  we  put  on  our  heavy  winter  wraps,  but  these 
give  us  no  warmth :  they  merely  keep  in  the  heat  of  the  body 
or  keep  out  the  cold  blasts  of  the  wind.  We  all  know  that  the 
body  is  warm  of  itself;  that  there  is  something  within  us  that 
produces  heat,  like  a  fire.  When  our  fingers  become  chilled 
by  the  frosty  air  we  may  warm  them  with  our  breath.  The 


100  AMERICAN    INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

temperature  of  a  room  may  be  seventy  degrees  or  less,  but  if 
we  place  the  bulb  of  a  thermometer  beneath  the  tongue  wo 
shall  find  that  the  mercury  rises  to  ninety-eight  degrees. 

The  fire  in  the  body  and  the  fire  in  the  stove  act  very  much 
alike.  If  the  draughts  of  the  stove  are  closed  tight  and  no  air 
is  admitted,  the  fire  dies  down  and  goes  out.  If  the  air  which 
enters  the  body  is  foul,  the  fire  feels  the  effect  and  our  health 
is  injured.  If  the  lungs  are  filled  with  water  or  anything  else 
which  keeps  out  the  air,  the  fire  goes  out  and  life  is  lost. 

The  fuel  which  we  call  food  is  just  as  necessary  for  the 
fire  in  our  body  as  is  wood  or  coal  for  the  fire  in  the  stove. 
Three  times  a  day  or  oftener  we  take  this  food-fuel  into  our 
bodies;  thus  we  keep  the  fire  steadily  burning  which  makes 
us  warm  and  keeps  us  alive. 

On  the  other  hand,  fuel  for  the  body  must  be  very  differ- 
ent from  fuel  for  a  stove.  In  the  stove  heat  alone  is  wanted; 
therefore  one  form  of  fuel  is  enough.  In  the  body  bones 
must  be  enlarged  and  strengthened,  muscles  must  be  devel- 
oped, fat  must  be  provided  in  sufficient  quantities,  and  brain- 
matter  must  be  produced.  Therefore  the  food-fuel  must  pro- 
vide not  only  heat  but  also  the  different  materials  of  which 
the  body  is  made.  One  kind  of  food  is  necessary  for  the 
bones,  another  for  the  blood,  another  for  the  flesh,  and  an- 
other for  the  nerves.  Thus  while  in  studying  common  fuel 
we  have  only  to  learn  about  wood,  either  in  the  form  of  trees 
or  pressed  into  the  form  of  coal,  in  studying  food-fuel  we  find 
that  the  kinds  are  almost  numberless.  Meat  and  vegetables, 
fish  and  fruit,  roots  and  nuts,  in  their  infinite  varieties,  are 
all  included  in  the  word  food. 

We  are  told  that  all  matter  belongs  to  one  of  three  king- 
doms— the  animal,  the  vegetable,  and  the  mineral  kingdoms. 
From  two  of  these  three  divisions  we  obtain  most  of  our  food. 


FOOD — UNCULTIVATED  FOODS.  IOI 

Food  may  be  divided  into  two  classes  then — animal  food  and 
vegetable  food.  In  animal  food  we  have  the  meat  of  wild 
animals  and  of  domestic  animals.  In  early  days,  when  the 
number  of  people  was  small,  the  supply  of  wild  animals  was 
large.  A  great  part  of  the  food  in  those  days  was  obtained 
by  hunting  and  fishing.  To-day  most  of  the  meat  comes  from 
domestic  animals,  so  that  the  keeping  of  herds  and  flocks  is 
one  of  the  great  industries  of  the  time.  Fish  are  still  impor- 
tant in  our  lists  of  foods,  but  the  flesh  of  wild  animals  is  less 
and  less  used  for  meat. 

Three  hundred  years  ago  the  Indians  had  this  country 
to  themselves.  They  were  few  in  number  and  were  scattered 
over  a  vast  territory.  The  forests  abounded  in  wild  game  and 
the  lakes  and  rivers  were  filled  with  fish.  Love  of  hunting 
and  fishing  held  the  first  place  in  the  pleasures  of  the  red 
man.  The  hunting  grounds  extended  far  and  wide  in  every 
direction.  Each  tribe  had  its  own  hunting  and  fishing 
grounds,  and  it  was  considered  an  act  of  war  for  any  tribe  of 
Indians  to  encroach  upon  the  territory  of  other  tribes. 

"Such  places  as  they  chose  for  their  abode,"  says  Hub- 
bard's  History,  "were  usually  at  the  falls  of  great  rivers, 
or  near  the  seaside,  where  was  any  convenience  for  catching 
such  fish  as  every  summer  and  winter  used  to  come  up  the 
coast.  At  such  times  they  used,  like  good  fellows,  to  make 
all  common,  and  then  those  who  had  entertained  their  neigh- 
bors at  the  seaside  expected  the  like  kindness  from  them  again 
up  higher  in  the  country." 

The  kinds  of  wild  animals  that  the  Indians  hunted  were 
very  numerous.  One  man  describes  the  appearance  of  an 
Indian's  "room  of  skins."  He  says:  "There  they  showed 
me  many  hides  and  horns,  both  beasts  of  chase  of  the  stink- 
ing foot — such  as  roes,  foxes,  jackals,  wolves,  wildcats, 


102 


AMERICAN    INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 


raccoons,  porcupines,  skunks,  muskrats,  squirrels,  and 
sables — and  beasts  of  chase  of  the  sweet  foot — buck,  red  deer, 
reindeer,  moose,  bear,  beaver,  otter,  hare,  and  martin." 
Captain  John  Smith  tells  of  the  fowl  that  the  red  men  hunted. 

He  mentions 
eagles,  hawks, 
cranes,  geese, 
ducks,  shel- 
drakes, teal, 
gulls,  and  tur- 
keys. 

The  variety 
of  fish  caught  by 
the  Indians  was 
also  very  large. 
"  Higher  up  at 
the  falls  of  the 
great  rivers  they 
used  to  take  sal- 
mon, shad,  and 
alewives,  that 
used  in  great 

quantities,  more  than  cartloads,  in  the  spring,  to  pass  up  into 
the  fresh-water  ponds  and  lakes."  "In  March,  April,  May, 
and  half  June,"  says  John  Smith,  "here  is  cod  in  abundance; 
in  May,  June,  July,  and  August,  mullet  and  sturgeon ;  herring, 
if  any  desire  them;  I  have  taken  many."  Again  he  writes 
of  whales,  grampuses,  hake,  haddock,  mackerel,  sharks,  cun- 
ners,  bass,  perch,  eels,  crabs,  lobsters,  mussels,  and  oysters. 
We  may  also  divide  vegetable  food  into  two  classes — that 
which  nature  provides  without  the  aid  of  man,  or  wild  vege- 
tables, and  that  which  requires  cultivation,  or  cultivated 


INDIANS  HUNTING  GAME. 


FOOD — UNCULTIVATED   FOODS.  103 

vegetables.  Many  forms  of  nuts,  berries  and  fruits,  and 
some  forms  of  common  ground  vegetables  grow  wild.  The 
red  men  found  these  in  great  abundance. 

John  Smith  found  in  New  England  currants,  mulber- 
ries, gooseberries,  plums,  walnuts,  chestnuts,  and  straw- 
berries, besides  other  fruits  of  which  he  did  not  know  the 
names.  He  made  a  journey  up  the  Potomac  River,  and  re- 
ported that  the  hills  yielded  no  less  plenty  and  variety  of 
fruit  than  the  river  furnished  abundance  of  fish. 

Smith  also  described  acorns  whose  bark  was  white  and 
sweetish;  he  added  that  these  acorns,  when  boiled,  afforded 
a  sweet  oil  that  the  red  men  kept  in  gourds  to  anoint  their 
heads  and  joints.  The  Indians  also  ate  the  fruit  of  this 
acorn,  made  into  bread.  There  were  plums  of  three  kinds 
and  cherries.  Smith  discovered  also  a  great  abundance  of 
vines  "that  climb  the  tops  of  the  highest  trees  in  some 
places.  Where  they  are  not  overshadowed  from  the  sun,  they 
are  covered  with  fruit,  though  never  pruned  nor  manured." 

Hunting  and  fishing  are  carried  on  in  much  the  same  way 
to-day  as  they  were  centuries  ago.  The  gun  has  taken  the 
place  of  the  bow  and  arrow,  and  fishing  implements  have 
been  somewhat  improved.  But  to  capture  and  kill  is  now,  as 
formerly,  all  that  is  needed  to  obtain  this  form  of  food,  if  the 
wild  animals  themselves  can  be  found.  Wild  vegetables  may 
be  gathered  to-day  in  just  the  way  that  our  ancestors  gathered 
them,  though  they  are  not  found  in  so  great  quantities  be- 
cause of  the  increase  of  cultivation.  In  studying  the  changes 
in  the  modes  of  living  that  have  occurred  in  this  country  dur- 
ing the  last  three  hundred  years,  we  find  that  almost  all  the 
improvements  in  the  production  of  food  have  been  in  the 
planting,  cultivating,  and  harvesting  of  food,  and  the  bring- 
ing it  to  market. 


CHAPTER    II. 


CULTIVATED   FOODS. 

HUNTING  and  fishing  did  not  furnish  either  sufficient  or 
satisfactory  food  for  the  Indians.  A  portion  of  their  time 
was  spent  in  cultivating  certain  products  of  the  soil.  Black 
Hawk,  a  famous  Indian  chief,  writes:  "When  we  returned 

to  our  village  in  the 
spring  from  our  hunting 
grounds  we  would  open 
the  caches  and  take  out 
corn  and  other  provi- 
sions which  had  been  put 
up  in  the  fall,  and  then 
commence  repairing  our 
lodges.  As  soon  as  this 
is  accomplished  we  re- 
pair the  fences  around 
THE  CORN  DANCE.  our  fields  and  clean  them 

off    ready  for    planting 

corn.  This  work  is  done  by  our  women.  The  men,  during 
this  time,  are  feasting  on  dried  venison,  bear's  meat,  wild 
fowl  and  corn. 

"  Our  women  plant  the  corn,  and  as  soon  as  they  get  done 
we  make  a  feast  and  dance  the  corn  dance.  At  this  feast  our 
young  braves  select  the  young  woman  they  wish  to  have  for 
a  wife.  When  this  is  over  we  feast  again  and  have  our 
national  dance. 


FOOD — CULTIVATED    FOODS.  105 

*  When  our  national  dance  is  over,  our  corn-fields  hoed, 
and  every  weed  dug  up,  and  our  corn  about  knee  high,  all 
our  young  men  would  start  in  a  direction  toward  sundown  to 
hunt  deer  and  buffalo,  and  the  remainder  of  our  people  start 
to  fish.  Every  one  leaves  the  village  and  remains  away  about 
forty  days.  They  then  return,  the  hunting  party  bringing  in 
dried  buffalo  and  deer  meat,  the  others  dried  fish. 

"  This  is  a  happy  season  of  the  year ;  having  plenty  of 
provision,  such  as  beans,  squashes,  and  other  produce,  with 
our  dried  meat  and  fish,  we  continue  to  make  feasts  and  visit 
each  other  until  our  corn  is  ripe. 

"  When  the  corn  is  fit  for  use  another  great  ceremony  takes 
place,  with  feasting  and  returning  thanks  to  the  Great  Spirit 
for  giving  us  corn.  We  continue  our  sport  and  feasting  until 
the  corn  is  all  secured.  We  then  prepare  to  leave  our  village 
for  our  hunting  grounds." 

Thus  we  see  that  the  most  important  crop  among  the  In- 
dians was  maize  or  Indian  corn.  This  grain  is  specially 
suited  to  the  climate  and  soil  of  a  large  portion  of  the  coun- 
try ;  it  was  wholly  unknown  to  the  Europeans  who  first  came 
to  America. 

John  Smith  in  Virginia  and  Roger  Williams  in  New  Eng- 
land were  much  interested  in  the  Indian  corn.  It  is  from 
their  writings  that  we  learn  how  the  red  men  cultivated  and 
used  this  strange  product  of  the  New  World. 

As  corn  was  the  Indians'  main  dependence,  they  ate  it  at 
all  times  and  in  various  ways.  They  roasted  the  green  ears 
in  the  ashes ;  sometimes  they  cut  the  kernels  from  the  cob 
and  boiled  them  with  beans,  making  a  kind  of  succotash. 
Meal  was  made  by  pounding  the  kernels  in  a  wooden  mortar; 
if  the  corn  was  old  it  was  soaked  over  night  and  pounded  in 
the  morning. 


io6 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS  AND   INVENTORS. 


This  meal  also  was  cooked  in  different  ways.  Sometimes 
it  was  wrapped  in  corn  husks  and  boiled ;  at  other  times  it 
was  mixed  with  water  and  made  into  cakes,  which  were 
baked  in  the  ashes  of  the  fire.  Often  a  pudding  was  made 

from  the  meal,  in  which  black- 
berries were  placed.  When 
the  Indians  travelled,  they 
were  accustomed  to  carry 
enough  of  this  meal  to  last 
several  days,  either  in  a  small 
basket  or  a  hollow  leathern 
girdle. 

Such  was  life  among  the 
Indians.  Usually  food  was 
plenty  and  feasting  was  com- 
mon, but  at  times  food  was 
scarce  and  fasting  was  neces- 
sary. If  the  Indian  had 
sufficient  for  to-day,  he  cared 
little  for  to-morrow.  If  the 
corn  crop  failed  or  if  the 

hunting  expedition  turned  out  badly,  the  red   man  accepted 
it  as  a  necessary  evil  and  made  no  complaint. 

The  first  Englishmen  to  learn  of  the  foods  that  could  be 
obtained  in  the  New  World  were  two  captains  sent  out  by  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh  to  explore  the  Atlantic  coast  of  America. 
They  returned  full  of  enthusiasm  for  the  fertile  soil  and  the 
delightful  climate  of  Virginia.  They  praised  also  the  kind- 
ness of  the  Indians,  who  provided  them  with  the  best  of  food 
— deer,  hares,  fish,  walnuts,  melons,  cucumbers,  peas,  and 
corn. 

Apparently  there  was  an  abundance  of  food  in  the  New 


CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 

(From  the  history  of  Virginia,  by  Captain  John 
Smith.) 


FOOD — CULTIVATED    FOODS.  107 

World — flesh,  fish,  fruits,  nuts,  vegetables,  and  grain.  The 
sailors  were  not  farmers,  however;  nor  were  the  colonists 
who  came  over  the  next  year.  They  had  no  knowledge  of 
the  labor  necessary  to  till  the  soil  and  raise  the  food,  and 
after  a  year  on  Roanoke  Island  they  returned  to  England. 

Twenty  years  later  the  colonists  at  Jamestown  were  no  more 
ready  to  labor  at  farming  than  those  at  Roanoke  had  been. 
Numbers  died  from  hunger  during  the  first  summer,  but  the 
leader,  John  Smith,  was  able,  from  his  own  strength  of  char- 
acter, to  hold  survivors  to  the  work  until  a  fair  abundance  of 
corn  had  been  obtained.  Meanwhile  Smith  managed  to  buy 
or  borrow  provisions  from  the  Indians. 

The  settlers  at  Plymouth  arrived  in  early  winter  and  found 
a  climate  much  colder  than  that  of  England  or  Holland.  They 
could  not  hope  to  harvest  a  crop  before  the  next  autumn,  and 
they  also  were  dependent  upon  the  red  men  for  many  months. 

Soon  after  the  Mayflower  arrived  in  Provincetown  harbor 
an  expedition  was  sent  out  to  search  for  the  best  spot  to  build 
a  village.  They  followed  the  tracks  of  Indians,  but  could  not 
find  them  nor  their  dwellings.  The  first  sign  of  human  life 
was  a  piece  of  clear  ground  which  had  been  planted  some 
years  before.  Going  a  little  farther  they  found  a  field  in 
which  the  stubble  was  new,  showing  that  the  ground  had 
been  recently  cultivated.  Finally  'they  came  upon  "heaps  of 
sand  newly  paddled  with  their  hands."  Led  by  curiosity  the 
Pilgrims  digged  in  these  places  and  found  several  baskets 
filled  with  corn.  This  grain  seemed  to  the  Pilgrims  a  "very 
goodly  sight,"  though  they  had  never  seen  corn  before. 
They  carried  the  grain  back  to  the  ship,  and  when  the  In- 
dians who  owned  the  corn  were  found,  the  Pilgrims  gladly 
paid  them  its  full  value. 

When  spring  came  the  colonists  at  Plymouth  began  mak- 


108  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

ing  preparations  for  planting.  An  Indian,  named  Squanto, 
who  had  previously  been  carried  to  England  and  had  learned 
to  speak  some  English,  showed  himself  very  friendly.  He 
taught  them  how  to  prepare  the  fish  which  must  be  put  in 
every  hill  for  a  fertilizer.  He  directed  the  planting  and  cul- 
tivating of  the  fields.  As  a  result  they  had  "a  good  in- 
crease." They  were  not  so  successful  in  other  ways,  for 
their  barley  crop  was  very  light  and  their  peas  dried  up  with 
the  sun. 

A  curious  story  is  found  in  some  old  records.  The  dogs 
in  a  Plymouth  colony  town  caused  the  farmers  great  trouble 
by  digging  up  the  alewives  which  they  were  accustomed  to 
place  in  the  hills.  Therefore  a  law  was  passed  that  required 
the  owner  of  every  dog  either  to  keep  him  securely  tied  for 
forty  days  after  the  fields  were  prepared,  or  to  tie  a  fore- 
paw  to  his  head  so  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  the  dog 
to  dig  in  the  newly  prepared  hill. 

Two  years  later  the  Pilgrims  are  said  to  have  had  nearly 
sixty  acres  of  ground  well  planted  with  corn,  and  many  gar- 
dens filled  with  fruits  and  vegetables.  However,  the  crop 
was  light,  mainly  because  the  colonists  had  been  too  weak, 
from  lack  of  food,  properly  to  attend  to  it.  A  famine  would 
have  followed  for  the  third  time  had  not  a  vessel  arrived 
from  England,  in  August,  bringing  provisions  sufficient  for 
the  winter. 

For  several  years  the  Pilgrims  were  compelled  to  live 
partly  upon  wild  game  and  fish.  One  summer  their  main 
support  was  obtained  by  the  use  of  the  only  boat  that  re- 
mained, with  which  they  caught  large  quantities  of  bass. 
They  also  obtained  clams  when  they  could  not  get  fish,  used 
ground-nuts  in  place  of  bread,  and  caught  many  wild  fowl  in 
the  creeks  and  marshes. 


FOOD — CULTIVATED  FOODS. 


109 


AN  ANCIENT  PLOW. 


The  colonists  had  no  milk,  butter,  nor  cheese  for  the  first 
three  years  in  Plymouth.  There  were  no  domestic  animals 
in  New  England  until,  in  the  spring  of  1623,  a  vessel  arrived 
bringing  the  first  cows.  In  time  beef  and  veal  were  added  to 
the  list  of  foods,  and  soon  other  domestic  animals  were  brought 
over.  By  the  middle  of  the  fourth  summer  the  village  of  New 
Plymouth  was  reported  to 
have  nearly  two  hundred 
inhabitants,  with  some  cat- 
tle and  goats,  and  many 
swine  and  poultry. 

The  tools  used  by  the 
early  colonists  were,  like 
their  houses  and  furniture, 
of  the  rudest  manufacture. 
Agriculture,  such  as  exists 

in  the  United  States  to-day,  was  entirely  unknown  two  cen- 
turies ago.  The  plow  was  little  used  and  the  few  plows 
among  the  colonists  were  inconvenient,  heavy  tools.  The 
important  planting  and  cultivating  implement  used  by  the 
farmers  was  the  hoe. 

The  village  or  plantation  blacksmith  made  the  tools  for 
the  farmers,  and  they  were  rudely  formed  and  shaped.  In 
harvest  time  the  hoe  was  again  called  into  use,  as  well  as  the 
roughly  constructed  scythes  and  pruninghooks.  The  mus- 
cle-developing flail  separated  the  grain  from  the  straw,  and 
the  miller  ground  it  into  meal,  or  flour,  taking  "  toll "  for  his 
pay — that  is,  a  fixed  fraction  of  the  product. 

How  the  system  of  agriculture  has  changed  during  these 
two  centuries,  or  rather  during  the  last  century,  for  few  of 
the  improvements  are  yet  a  hundred  years  old !  As  in  the 
methods  of  producing  heat  and  light,  inventions  have  done 


110  AMERICAN    INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

wonders  in  providing  us  with  a  greater  amount  and  a  larger 
variety  of  food  at  a  reduced  cost.  Formerly  all  farm-work 
was  done  by  the  use  of  great  muscular  power.  Only  a  strong 
man  can  wield  the  hoe  for  hours  at  a  time.  To  walk  behind 
a  plow,  guiding  the  horse  and  holding  the  plow  in  place,  is 
no  light  task.  To  swing  a  scythe  from  early  morning  until 
late  in  the  day  severely  taxes  the  strength.  To  thresh  grain 
•upon  the  barn  floor  with  a  flail  day  after  day  needs  much 
physical  endurance.  The  labor  of  many  men  was  required 
to  manage  even  a  comparatively  small  farm.  To-day  all 
these  conditions  are  changed. 

At  the  present  time  "  the  most  desirable  farm-hand  is  the 
man  with  the  cunning  brain  who  can  get  the  most  work  out 
of  a  machine  without  breaking  it.  The  farm  laborer  finds 
himself  advanced  to  the  ranks  of  skilled  labor.  The  man 
who  plows  uses  his  muscle  only  in  guiding  the  machine. 
The  man  who  operates  the  harrow  has  half  a  dozen  levers  to 
lighten  his  labor.  The  sower  walks  leisurely  behind  a  drill 
and  works  brakes.  The  reaper  needs  a  quick  brain  and  a 
quick  hand — not  necessarily  a  strong  arm  nor  a  powerful 
back.  The  threshers  are  merely  assistants  to  a  machine. 
The  men  who  heave  the  wheat  into  the  bins  only  press  but- 
tons." 


CHAPTER    III. 
IMPLEMENTS   FOR   PLANTING. 

GEORGE  was  determined  to  be  a  farmer.  He  was  but 
twelve  years  of  age,  yet  he  felt  sure  that  he  knew  his  own 
mind.  He  said  to  himself  and  to  his  friends  that  life  out  of 
doors,  life  on  a  farm,  was  the  best  and  healthiest  kind  of  life. 
He  declared  that  to  raise  the  food  of  the  world  was  the  most 
important  service  that  man  could  do  for  his  fellow-beings. 

The  boy  lived  in  a  city.  He  had  always  lived  in  a  city 
and  had  never  seen  a  farm.  He  had  never  been  away  from 
home.  His  home  was  a  flat,  or  apartment,  occupying  a  por- 
tion of  one  floor  of  a  ten-story  block.  His  knowledge  of  life 
was  limited  entirely  to  city  life.  He  had  been  to  the  park; 
he  had  seen  there  trees  and  shrubbery,  grass  and  flowers. 
Yet  he  had  never  visited  the  park  alone ;  he  had  never  seen 
any  of  the  work  needed  in  caring  for  the  trees  and  flowers. 
He  knew  absolutely  nothing  about  gardening  or  farming ;  he 
could  not  tell  the  difference  between  a  hoe  and  a  rake ;  he 
would  not  be  able  to  answer  the  simplest  questions  about 
farm  life. 

Yet  George  had  decided  to  be  a  farmer,  and  he  had  made 
up  his  mind  to  study  the  subject  of  farming  at  once.  He 
proposed  to  ask  Uncle  Ben  all  sorts  of  questions  every  chance 
he  could  get.  He  intended  to  obtain  books  from  the  library 
that  would  tell  him  what  he  needed  to  know.  Oh,  could  he 
only  go  into  the  country,  try  for  himself  life  upon  a  farm, 
and  see  with  his  own  eyes  what  a  farmer  had  to  do  I 


112  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

So  George  went  to  work.  He  did  not  neglect  his  school 
duties,  but  carefully  prepared  his  daily  lessons.  When  these 
were  done  he  was  ready  to  study  agriculture.  He  did  not 
know  where  to  begin  with  books,  so  he  asked  questions. 

"Uncle  Ben,"  he  said  one  evening  as  the  family  was 
gathered  around  the  library  lamp,  "  how  does  it  happen  that 
a  farmer  sometimes  raises  tomatoes  and  sometimes  potatoes? 
What  does  he  do  if  he  wants  one  rather  than  the  other?  " 

"Well,  George,"  was  the  laughing  reply,  "I  think  that 
you  have  much  to  learn  before  you  make  a  successful  farmer. 
Don't  you  know  that  if  he  wants  potatoes  he  plants  potatoes?' 

"Why,  I  suppose  so,"  said  George.  "Then  if  he  desires 
apples,  does  he  plant  apples?  " 

"Hardly,"  said  his  uncle.  "Seeds  would  be  better  than 
entire  apples." 

George  was  started  and  for  the  rest  of  the  evening  he 
asked  no  more  questions,  his  whole  attention  being  turned  to 
the  large  encyclopedia  on  his  knee.  When  next  he  plied  his 
uncle  with  questions  it  was  evident  that  he  had  already  learned 
something. 

"  When  a  farmer  plants  a  potato,  he  puts  it  in  a  hole  and 
covers  it  up.  I  have  read  that  he  plows  the  ground  first. 
What  does  he  do  that  for?  " 

"For  two  reasons,  I  suppose,"  replied  Uncle  Ben.  "The 
roots  and  sprouts  grow  better  in  a  soil  that  has  been  softened. 
When  the  ground  is  unplowed,  it  is  baked  hard.  Besides, 
plowing  turns  the  soil  over,  brings  new  dirt  to  the  top,  and 
generally  mixes  it  all  together." 

"Oh,  yes!"  said  George.  "Then  I  must  learn  about 
plowing  first." 

George  obtained  as  good  a  knowledge  of  plows  and  tillage 
as  was  possible  from  books.  In  order  fully  to  understand  the 


FOOD — IMPLEMENTS   FOR   PLANTING.  113 

subject,  it  would  be  necessary  to  see  the  plows  and  use  them. 
But  that  could  not  come  yet.  The  books  told  him  that  the 
earliest  and  simplest  way  to  till  the  soil  was  with  a  spade. 
From  them  George  learned,  what  most  boys  and  girls  know, 
what  a  spade  was,  and  that  a  spade  was  all  that  was  absolute- 
ly needed  to  soften  the  soil  and  prepare  it  for  planting. 

To  spade  a  piece  of  ground  is  slow  work ;  it  is  also  hard 
work.  Could  not  some  method  be  devised  so  that  the  spad- 
ing or  tilling  could  be  done  by  horses  or  oxen  ?  This  led  to 
the  invention  of  the  plow.  This  was  made  thousands  of  years 
ago.  The  kooloo  plow,  still  in  use  in  India,  was  one  of  the 
earliest  and  was  very  rude.  It  was  made  entirely  of  wood, 
the  sharp  part  of  the  plow  being  like  a  thorn  in  shape,  but 
very  thick  and  strong. 

As  the  centuries  went  on,  iron  began  to  be  used ;  and  early 
in  the  history  of  iron  it  was  applied  to  plows.  They  were 
still  made  of  wood,  but  iron  plates  were  placed  over  the 
wood,  where  the  instrument  tore  into  the  ground.  Later  the 
plow  itself  was  made  of  iron,  leaving  the  handles  still  formed 
of  wood.  This  iron  plow  would  sometimes  become  covered 
with  soil  and  so  be  almost  useless.  This  was  corrected  by 
the  use  of  steel  shares  instead  of  iron.  This  brought  George 
to  the  modern  plow. 

George  was  not  content  with  simply  obtaining  an  idea 
about  plows;  he  wished  to  know  all  that  he  could  about 
them.  He  obtained  books  that  gave  complete  accounts  of  the 
varieties  of  plows,  the  ways  in  which  they  were  used,  and  the 
work  which  they  should  do.  He  learned  that  a  plow  should 
be  fitted  to  its  task.  It  should  be  as  light  as  possible,  easily 
drawn,  and  it  should  run  with  even  steadiness,  at  a  uniform 
depth.  It  should  not  only  turn  the  soil  over,  but  should 
thoroughly  powder  it  and  bury  the  weeds. 


114  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

To  his  great  surprise  George  also  learned  that  some  of  the 
modern  plows  were  as  much  superior  to  the  ordinary  plow  as 
that  was  to  the  spade.  The  sulky  plow  is  easier  for  the 
horses  than  the  common  plow ;  it  makes  furrows  of  different 
depths ;  and  it  has  a  seat  for  the  farmer.  Sometimes  several 
plowshares  are  placed  side  by  side  and  drawn  by  a  large 
number  of  horses.  This  is  called  a  gang  plow.  Steam  and 
wind  and  water  and  even  electricity  are  coming  into  use  to  fur- 
nish power  for  plows,  in  place  of  the  animal  power  of  horses. 

"Well,  Uncle  Ben,"  said  George  one  evening,  "now  I 
understand  something  about  plowing  and  tillage.  The  next 
thing  a  farmer  does  in  the  spring  is  to  plant  his  potatoes  and 
corn,  is  it  not?  " 

"Yes,"  was  the  reply. 

"Well,  then,"  said  George,  "that  will  not  take  me  long 
to  learn.  All  there  is  to  do  is  to  dig  a  hole,  put  in  the  potato, 
and  cover  it  with  earth." 

"  I  am  afraid  that  you  will  find  that  the  job  is  not  quite 
so  simple  as  that.  Has  the  farmer  nothing  to  plant  but  po- 
tatoes? "  asked  the  uncle. 

"Yes,"  said  the  boy.  "Corn  and  turnips  and  oats  and 
wheat  and  pumpkins  and  lots  of  other  things." 

"  Would  you  plant  a  kernel  of  corn  in  just  the  same  way 
that  you  would  a  potato?  " 

"No,  I  suppose  not,"  was  the  reply. 

"  And  do  you  think  that  every  farmer  does  all  his  plant- 
ing by  hand?  Does  he  not  have  tools  to  help  him?  " 

Thus  George  was  started  on  a  new  line  of  thought.  He 
read  of  the  sower,  as  he  slowly  walks  the  length  of  the  field, 
throwing  the  grain  right  and  left.  Even  this  work  is  better 
and  more  quickly  done  by  machinery.  The  hand  sower  is  a 
little  machine  which  the  farmer  straps  to  his  shoulders.  The 


FOOD — IMPLEMENTS   FOR   PLANTING.  11$ 

hopper  of  the  sower  is  filled  with  grain  and,  as  the  handle  is 
turned,  the  grain  is  scattered  broadcast  to  as  great  a  distance 
as  possible.  More  saving  of  labor  still  is  the  horse  sower, 
which  is  simply  the  hand  sower  on  a  larger  scale.  Some- 
times the  seed  is  inserted  in  the  ground  by  means  of  grain 
drills,  which  deposit  the  grain  more  evenly  and  at  the  same 
time  cover  it  with  earth. 

After  learning  how  to  sow  seed,  George  began  to  inquire 
into  the  subject  of  planting.  Many  machines  have  been  in- 
vented for  this  purpose  which  save  much  labor.  The  most 
important  are  the  corn  planter  and  the  potato  planter.  Ma- 
chines for  planting  other  vegetables  are  much  like  these. 
The  hand  corn  planter,  which  is  used  on  small  farms,  is 
carried  in  the  hand  of  the  farmer.  At  each  place  where  he 
wishes  a  hill  of  corn  he  strikes  into  the  ground  the  planter, 
which  leaves  the  kernels  at  the  proper  depth  and  covers  them 
with  soil.  The  horse  corn  planter  is  a  form  of  grain  drill, 
which  does  the  same  work  as  the  hand  planter. 

The  potato  planter  is  a  simple  machine,  though  it  does  a 
variety  of  work.  It  cuts  the  potatoes  into  slices  and  drops 
them  through  a  tube  into  a  furrow  which  the  plow-like  part 
of  the  planter  makes.  The  slices  are  dropped  at  regular 
spaces  and  are  covered  with  dirt  by  the  machine  itself.  In 
other  words,  the  farmer  puts  potatoes  in  the  hopper  and 
drives  the  machine  the  length  of  the  field.  The  planter  does 
the  rest  of  the  work,  saving  ths  farmer  the  labor  of  slicing 
the  potatoes,  digging  the  hole,  dropping  the  vegetable  and 
covering  it  with  earth. 

All  this  and  much  more  George  learned  during  the  next 
two  weeks.  Then  he  showed  that  he  was  ready  for  a  new 
subject  by  asking  his  uncle  what  the  farmer  did  between 
seedtime  and  harvest. 


Il6  AMERICAN  INVENTIONS  AND   INVENTORS. 

"I  suppose,"  said  the  boy,  "that  most  farmers  get  theif 
planting  done  almost  before  summer  begins.  Then  it  must 
be  some  time  before  they  begin  to  harvest  the  grain  and  dig 
the  potatoes.  What  do  they  do  all  summer?  " 

"I  think,"  replied  his  uncle,  "that  you  will  have  to  go 
into  the  country  and  see  some  things  for  yourself.  As  the 
school  term  is  nearly  finished,  I  believe  that  you  must  visit  a 
good  farmer  and  spend  the  summer  and  autumn  with  him. 
Then  you  will  know  something  of  a  real  farmer's  life  and 
work.  But  to  answer  your  question  by  asking  another,  Did 
you  ever  hear  of  weeds?  " 

After  that  George  asked  few  questions.  He  began  to 
think  that  he  was  showing  too  much  ignorance.  From  that 
evening  until  the  end  of  June  he  had  no  thoughts  but  of  the 
farm.  He  read  but  little  and  waited  to  study  his  subject  at 
close  hand.  But  he  did  discover  that  a  farmer's  life  is  not 
too  easy  in  the  summer.  He  learned  that  the  ground  must 
be  kept  free  from  weeds  and  continually  loosened.  He 
found  that  the  farmer  uses  his  hoe  in  deadly  hostility  to  the 
weeds ;  that  he  makes  his  horse  do  a  part  of  the  work  of  hoe- 
ing ;  that  the  harrow  and  the  cultivator  keep  the  soil  loose 
between  the  rows. 

When  the  summer  came,  George  felt  that  he  had  some 
knowledge  of  tillage,  of  sowing  and  planting,  and  of  weed- 
ing; this  was  book  knowledge.  Now  he  hoped  to  get  into 
the  inside  and  learn  something  of  the  farmer's  methods  of 
harvesting.  "Then,"  he  thought,  "  I  can  be  a  farmer." 


CHAPTER    IV. 
IMPLEMENTS   FOR   HARVESTING. 

GEORGE  awoke  the  first  morning  at  the  farm  to  hear  the 
roosters  crowing,  the  cows  mooing,  the  sheep  bleating,  and 
the  men  cheerily  whistling  as  they  hurried  about  the  chores. 
No  thought  of  turning  over  for  another  nap  entered  his  head, 
but  in  quick  time  he  was  dressed  and  ready  for  the  morning 
meal.  Breakfast  over,  George  hastened  out  of  doors  and  was 
soon  eagerly  watching  Tom,  who  had  been  directed  to  cut  the 
grass  around  the  edges  of  one  of  the  fields  which  had  been 
previously  mowed.  Here  for  the  first  time  he  saw  a  scythe 
and  learned  its  use. 

For  a  while  George  watched  Tom's  steady  swing  of  the 
scythe  as  he  slowly  cut  a  swath  the  length  of  the  field.  Then 
he  hastened  to  another  field  where  the  mowing  machine  was 
steadily  moving  across  the  lot.  What  an  improvement! 
What  a  saving  of  labor!  How  easily  those  knives  moved 
through  the  grass,  laying  every  spire  low  as  soon  as  it  was 
touched !  How  much  more  even  the  cut,  though  Tom  was 
skilled  with  the  scythe !  The  horses  drew  the  machine  with 
ease  and  the  driver  had  a  comfortable  seat.  However,  it  was 
plain  that  he  must  keep  his  head  clear  and  his  eyes  open,  to 
properly  attend  to  every  part  of  the  instrument. 

When  noon  came  George  was  tired  and  heated,  and  he 
gladly  remained  in  the  house  after  dinner.  Here  he  found 
his  favorite  encyclopedia  and  was  soon  hunting  up  the  history 
of  the  invention  of  the  mower.  He  was  surprised  to  learn 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 


how  short  a  time  it  had  been  in  use.  From  the  beginning  of 
history  the  crooked  sickle  and  the  straighter  scythe  had  been 
almost  the  only  tools  used  for  cutting  grass  and  grain.  Not 
until  about  the  middle  of  the  present  century  had  practical 
mowing  machines  come  into  use.  But  now,  except  on  very 

small  or  rocky  farms, 
the  horse  mower  is 
an  absolute  neces- 
sity. 

The  next  day 
George  again  visited 
the  fields  to  see  the 
next  step  in  the  proc- 
ess of  making  hay. 
First  he  found  Tom, 
with  a  fork,  turning 
over  the  grass  which 
he  had  mowed  the 
day  before.  Then 
he  went  to  the  other 

field,  where  he  saw  the  same  work  being  done  by  a  machine. 
The  mower  had  left  the  grass  in  heaps  so  that  the  sun  could 
reach  only  the  surface.  It  is  necessary  that  hay  should  be 
thoroughly  dried  as  quickly  as  possible.  Across  the  field  and 
back  again  went  the  hay  tedder,  its  forks  picking  up  the 
grass  and  tossing  it  in  every  direction.  One  horse  only  was 
needed,  and  the  driver  was  a  boy. 

The  third  day  George  was  again  in  the  field.  Once  more 
the  grass  was  turned.  Then  in  the  late  afternoon  it  was  pre- 
pared for  the  barn.  Tom  could  only  use  the  small  hand  rake, 
for  his  work  was  close  to  the  fence ;  he  was  simply  cleaning 
up  what  the  machines  had  failed  to  reach.  But  in  the  field 


MOWING  WITH  SCYTHES. 


FOOD — IMPLEMENTS    FOR   HARVESTING.  IIQ 

where  George  had  watched  the  mower  and  the  tedder,  ma- 
chinery and  horse  power  were  again  in  use.  A  horse  went 
back  and  forth,  drawing  a  horse  rake  behind  him.  Now  and 
then,  at  regular  intervals,  up  came  the  rake,  a  pile  of  hay 
was  left,  and  on  went  the  horse.  Then  a  hay  sweep  passed 
along  at  right  angles  to  the  rake  and  soon  the  hay  was  in 
piles.  As  the  field  was  very  smooth  and  free  from  stones,  a 
hay  loader  was  used  to  place  the  hay  upon  the  wagon.  A 
boy  drove  the  horses,  two  men  laid  the  load,  and  soon  the 
wagon  was  started  for  the  barn.  The  old-fashioned,  slow, 
hard  work  of  lifting  the  hay  by  the  forkful  into  the  barn 
was  no  longer  necessary.  Hay  forks,  run  by  horse  powers 
grappled  the  hay,  and  lifted  the  load.  Conveyers  carried  the 
hay  to  the  right  point  and  dropped  it  in  the  mow. 

Such  was  the  work  done  during  the  first  three  days  that 
George  spent  on  the  farm.  He  saw  the  old-fashioned  hand 
work  and  the  modern  use  of  labor-saving  machinery.  Then 
he  studied  his  books.  In  them  he  found  that  the  hand  labor 
of  cutting,  drying,  and  housing  the  hay  used  to  cost  about 
five  dollars  a  ton,  and  that  now,  with  the  best  of  modern 
machines,  it  need  cost  not  more  than  one  dollar  a  ton.  This 
machinery  is  of  great  value  to  the  farmer  and  also  to  those 
who  buy  the  hay;  for  the  farmer  can  sell  his  hay  at  a  lower 
price,  since  it  costs  him  less  to  make  it. 

This  was  the  last  of  the  haying.  For  several  weeks 
George  watched  the  hoes  and  the  harrows,  as  they  kept  the 
gardens  and  fields  in  good  condition.  Then  came  harvest- 
time.  Potatoes  were  first  in  George's  thoughts,  and  when 
he  learned  that  they  were  to  be  dug  on  the  morrow  he  was 
thoroughly  aroused.  But  he  met  with  a  sore  disappoint- 
ment. The  potatoes  were  not  dug  by  machinery.  The 
common  hoe  or  the  specially  shaped  potato  hoe  were  the  only 


120 


AMERICAN    INVENTORS    AND    INVENTIONS. 


tools.  Then  the  back-aching  work  of  picking  up  potatoes 
added  to  his  disgust,  and  he  declared  that  he  never  would 
raise  many  potatoes.  He  learned  that  plows  sometimes  help 
the  hoes,  but  that  potato-digging  machines  have  never  come 
into  general  use,  though  good  ones  have  been  invented. 

At  last  grain  harvest-time  came.  This  was  the  time  to 
which  George  had  long  looked  forward.  Now  he  could  see 
the  wheat  cut  and  threshed.  This  he  was  sure  was  the  best 

work  of  the  farmer. 
But  when  he  saw  Tom 
take  the  short,  crooked 
sickle,  cut  some  grain 
with  that,  gather  it  in 
his  arms,  and  tie  a 
cord  around  it,  he 
could  scarcely  control 
himself.  "  Is  that  the 
way  grain  is  harvest- 
ed?" he  said.  Then 
when  he  saw  the  grain 
laid  on  the  barn  floor 

and  struck  rapidly  by  flails  in  the  hands  of  two  men,  he  de- 
clared, "  If  that  is  what  the  farmer  has  to  do  to  get  a  little 
grain,  then  I  do  not  want  to  be  a  farmer." 

"Well, "said  Mr.  Miller,  "that  is  just  what  all  farmers 
had  to  do  until  within  fifty  years." 

But  George  soon  saw  a  different  method.  This  first  hand- 
work had  been  merely  to  harvest  a  small  amount  of  early 
grain;  a  few  days  later  the  machines  were  brought  out. 
Now  George  was  happy.  At  last  he  saw  a  reaping  machine 
and  a  combined  reaper  and  binder.  This  interested  him  the 
most.  He  watched  the  machine  as  the  horses  drew  it  along 


A  REAPER  AND  BINDER. 


FOOD — IMPLEMENTS   FOR    HARVESTING. 


121 


the  edge  of  the  standing  grain.  He  saw  the  grain  cut  and 
laid  upon  a  platform,  carried  up  into  the  machine,  taken  by 
two  arms  called  packers,  gathered  by  them  into  bundles, 
bound  by  cords  and  thrown  to  the  ground.  What  more 
could  be  asked  of  any  machine? 

And  yet  there  is  a  new  type  of  harvester  that  has  been 
used  in  San  Joaquin  valley,  California.  It  cuts  a  swarth  fifty- 
two  feet  in  width.  It 
not  only  cuts  the  grain 
but  it  threshes  it  as  well. 
It  makes  the  sacks  and 
fills  them  as  it  travels 
over  the  field.  It  is  said 
to  cut  an  area  of  a  hun- 
dred acres  a  day,  and  at 
the  same  time  thresh  the 
grain  and  fill  fifteen  hun- 
dred sacks. 

Later  in  the  autumn 
came  the  thresher. 
That  belonging  to  Farm-  THE  MCCORMICK  REAPER. 

er    Miller  was    run    by 

horse  power.  Two  horses  stood  upon  a  platform,  constantly 
stepping  forward  but  not  moving  from  their  position.  In- 
stead the  platform  moved  backward  and  this  turned  the  ma- 
chinery. The  men  placed  the  grain  stalks  in  the  hopper  and 
the  threshed  grain  came  out  of  the  machine,  flowing  into 
sacks,  which  when  filled  were  tied  by  the  men  and  set  aside 
ready  for  the  market. 

The  reaper  and  the  thresher  seemed  to  George  the  great- 
est of  inventions.  He  obtained  a  book  on  inventions,  and  for 
Hiany  days  he  was  buried  in  it.  He  read  of  the  Englishman, 


122  AMERICAN   INVENTORS   AND    INVENTIONS. 

Henry  Ogle,  whose  reaper,  made  in  1822,  aroused  the  anger 
of  the  working  people,  who  threatened  to  kill  the  manufac- 
turers if  they  continued  to  make  the  machines;  of  Patrick 
Bell's  invention,  which,  though  successful,  was  forgotten  for 
twenty  or  thirty  years;  of  Cyrus  H.  McCormick,  the  Ameri- 
can, whose  reaper  first  obtained  a  lasting  success. 

Most  of  all  he  was  interested  in  the  account  of  the  first 
trial  of  reapers  in  England,  at  the  time  of  the  world's  fair  in 
185 1.  What  a  joke  it  was  for  the  London  Times  to  poke  fun 
at  the  McCormick  .machine,  as  it  was  exhibited  in  the  Crystal 
Palace !  How  the  great  newspaper  did  wish  that  it  had  kept 
quiet  when  a  few  days  later  it  was  compelled  to  report  the 
complete  success  of  the  ridiculed  reaper ! 

The  trial  took  place  in  Essex,  about  forty-five  miles  from 
London.  Two  hundred  farmers  were  present,  ready  to  laugh 
at  failure  or  to  accept  any  successful  machine.  The  wheat 
was  not  ripe;  the  crop  was  heavy;  and  the  day  was  rainy. 
The  Hussey  reaper  was  first  tried  but  was  soon  clogged  by 
the  green,  wet  grain.  The  judges  proposed  to  discontinue 
the  trial,  as  the  conditions  were  so  unfavorable.  But  the 
agent  of  the  McCormick  reaper  protested.  His  machine 
would  work  under  any  conditions ;  he  wished  that  the  gentle- 
men who  had  taken  the  pains  to  come  to  the  trial  should  have 
a  chance  to  see  the  McCormick.  Accordingly  it  was  brought 
forward  and,  in  spite  of  everything,  it  went  steadily  forward, 
cutting  all  before  it.  Success  was  evident,  and  the  English 
farmers,  gave  three  hearty  cheers  for  the  American  reaping- 
machine. 

Another  trial,  at  which  the  reaper  was  timed,  showed  that 
it  could  cut  twenty  acres  a  day  with  ease.  Even  the  laboring 
men  realized  that  the  machine  would  come  at  once  into  use  ; 
one,  who  was  among  the  interested  spectators,  took  the  sickle, 


FOOD — IMPLEMENTS    FOR   HARVESTING. 


123 


which  he  happened  to  have  with  him,  and  broke  it  in  two 
across  his  knee ;  he  said  that  he  would  no  longer  need  that. 

Fot^r  years  later  a  trial  took  place  in  France  also.     Here 
three  American,  two  English,  and  two  French  machines  were 

tested.       McCormick's     reaper     easily 
came  out  ahead,  with  the  other  Ameri- 
can machines  close    behind.      At    the 
same    time   four    threshing    machines 
were  tested.     Six  men  with  their  flails, 
working   as  hard   as    they   could,   ob- 
tained   fifty-four  quarts  of 
wheat    in    half     an   hour; 
the    American      thresher 
gave  out  six  hundred  and 
seventy-three  quarts  in  the 
same  time ! 

We  have  spent  much 
time  on  farming  machin- 
ery. We  must  now  leave  George  to  a  further  study  of  farm 
life  and  farm  work.  So  far  he  has  only  examined  tools  and 
machinery.  He  has  learned  from  experience,  however,  that 
a  modern  farmer  has  much  more  than  this  to  learn,  and  much 
work  to  do  that  cannot  be  done  by  machinery.  He  realizes  that 
much  study  is  needed  to  make  a  successful  farmer.  He  finds 
that  nearly  every  State  in  the  Union  has  one  or  more  agricul- 
tural colleges,  and  that  the  United  States  does  its  share  in 
giving  aid  and  information  to  farmers.  He  still  desires  to 
be  a  farmer,  but  he  is  glad  that  it  is  a  modern  farmer  that  he 
must  be.  He  goes  back  to  school,  eager  to  prepare  himself 
to  enter  the  best  agricultural  college  that  he  can  find,  in  or- 
der that  he  may  be  ready  for  intelligent  farming  as  soon  as 
opportunity  comes. 


THRESHING  WITH  FLAIL. 


CHAPTER  V. 


SOIL. 

A  LITTLE  boat  was  sailing  along1  the  north  shore  of 
Massachusetts  bay.  It  was  a  shallop  belonging  to  the  fish- 
ing hamlet  of  Cape  Ann.  In  it  were  Gov.  Roger  Conant 
and  a  few  of  his  friends.  After  a  sail  of  a  dozen  miles  the 
boat  was  turned  to  the  westward  and  entered  a  harbor.  On 

it  went  until  it  reached 
a  point  of  land  which 
separated  two  little 
rivers.  Upon  this 
peninsula,  which  the 
Indians  called  Naum- 
keag,  Conant  landed. 
He  walked  across  from 
one  stream  to  the 
other;  he  carefully 

examined  the  trees,  the  weeds,  the  grass,  and  the  remains  of 
an  Indian  cornfield.     Then  he  sailed  back  to  the  cape. 

A  few  weeks  later  Governor  Conant  and  fourteen  compan- 
ions moved  from  Cape  Ann  to  Naumkeag,  now  Salem.  For 
three  years  the  hamlet  on  the  cape  had  been  struggling  for 
life.  The  colonists  had  at  last  become  disheartened  and  had 
abandoned  the  settlement.  But  what  better  fortune  could 
they  expect  at  Naumkeag?  Conant's  study  of  the  little 
peninsula  had  taught  him  that  here  was  a  fertile  soil  from 
which  he  could  raise  food  enough  for  the  colonists.  Cape 


COLONISTS  IN  A  SHALLOP. 


FOOD — SOIL.  125 

Ann  had  not  proved  fertile.  It  was  a  "  stern  and  rock-bound 
coast."  The  entire  cape  seemed  to  be  one  vast  ledge  of 
granite  rock,  and  only  here  and  there  could  grain  and  vege- 
tables be  grown. 

The  settlement  of  Salem  was  four  years  earlier  than  that 
of  Boston,  and  but  six  years  after  the  Pilgrims  arrived  in 
Plymouth.  Thus  early  in  the  history  of  the  colonies  was  it 
found  necessary  to  seek  fertile  soils  for  settlements.  As 
these  grew  and  the  number  of  the  colonists  increased,  the 
need  of  more  land  and  better  soil  became  apparent.  Ten 
years  after  Conant  went  to  Naumkeag,  the  population  of 
three  entire  towns  near  Boston  moved,  through  woods,  over 
hills  and  valleys,  and  across  streams,  to  the  fertile  valley  of 
the  Connecticut  River.  Farms  spread  out  in  every  direction 
until,  before  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  nearly  all 
of  southern  New  England  was  dotted  with  them. 

The  French  and  Indian  War  came,  and  at  its  close  the 
valley  of  the  Ohio  River  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Eng- 
lish. Then  followed  the  American  Revolution,  and  the  North- 
west Territory  became  a  part  of  the  United  States.  The  New 
England  farmers  had  become  crowded  by  this  time,  and 
many  were  eager  for  more  land.  A  new  migration  followed. 
Farmers  from  New  England,  New  York,  and  Pennsylvania 
began  to  journey  westward  and  to  settle  the  Northwest  Ter- 
ritory. Ohio  soon  had  sufficient  population  to  be  made  a 
State.  Indiana  and  Illinois  followed,  then  Michigan  and 
Wisconsin.  Meanwhile  the  United  States  purchased  the 
great  province  of  Louisiana,  and  Iowa,  Minnesota,  and  Ne- 
braska were  settled  by  the  Eastern  farmers  and  others  who 
had  come  across  the  ocean  from  Europe. 

Never  in  the  history  of  the  world  had  there  been  such  a 
rapid  settlement  of  new  lands.  It  has  continued  even  up  to 


126  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

the  present  time.  A  few  years  ago  the  new  territory  of  Ok« 
lahoma  was  opened  to  farmers,  and  its  growth  has  been  re- 
markable. 

The  principal  reason  for  this  rapid  settlement  of  Western 
land  may  be  found  in  the  excellent  character  of  the  soil. 
For  ages  it  had  lain  uncultivated,  waiting  for  the  coming  of 
the  white  man.  Unlike  the  rocky  portions  of  New  England, 
the  ground  seldom  contains  a  large  stone.  Unlike  the  hills 
and  valleys  of  the  coast  States,  the  interior  territory  is  prairie 
land,  level  as  far  as  the  eye  can  see.  Here  the  gang  plows 
can  be  run ;  here  the  mowing  machines  and  the  mammoth 
harvesters  can  be  used  to  great  advantage. 

Thus  grew  the  northern  part  of  the  United  States.  In 
the  South  the  westward  movement  was  not  so  rapid.  The 
conditions  of  agriculture  were  different.  The  climate  of 
South  Carolina  was  unlike  that  of  Massachusetts ;  the  cold  of 
New  York  was  unknown  in  Georgia.  In  New  England  small 
farms  were  the  rule;  on  these  the  work  was  done  by  the 
owner,  with  the  aid  of  his  sons  or  perhaps  a  hired  man  or 
two.  In  Virginia  large  plantations  were  common ;  here  the 
proprietor  lived  at  his  ease  and  the  land  was  cultivated  by 
slaves.  In  Connecticut  the  crops  raised  were  used  for  the 
most  part  by  the  farmer's  family  or  sold  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood.  In  North  Carolina  the  products  of  the  planta- 
tions were  exported  in  great  quantities. 

In  time,  however,  these  Southern  people  became  dissatis- 
fied with  their  early  territory,  as  their  Northern  brothers  had 
been,  and  gradually  new  States  were  formed  to  the  west- 
ward. Kentucky  and  Tennessee  were  followed  by  Louisiana; 
Alabama  and  Mississippi  were  formed  on  one  side  of  the  great 
river,  but  a  few  years  before  Missouri  and  Arkansas  were  on 
the  other.  State  after  State  was  admitted  to  the  Union  as 


FOOD — SOIL.  127 

soon  as  a  sufficient  number  of  people  had  flocked  into  them, 
and  the  number  of  Territories  was  steadily  diminishing. 

At  the  farther  end  of  the  continent,  the  Oregon  country, 
saved  to  us  by  the  heroism  of  Dr.  Marcus  Whitman,  added  a 
large  territory  of.  extremely  fertile  soil.  South  of  Oregon 
the  great  State  of  California  was  added  to  the  Union,  as  a 
result  of  Marshall's  discovery  of  gold  at  Sutter's  Fort.  Yet 
California  to-day  is  a  State  for  the  farmer  as  well  as  the 
miner.  Thus  finally,  the  Atlantic  coast,  the  region  of  the 
Great  Lakes,  the  Ohio  valley,  the  Gulf  States,  the  valley  of 
the  "Father  of  Waters,"  and  the  Pacific  slope— in  fact, 
almost  all  sections  of  the  United  States — were  well  peopled 
by  farmers,  drawing  from  the  rich  virgin  soil  immense  crops 
of  food,  more  than  sufficient  for  our  own  people. 

But  we  were  not  satisfied.  In  the  very  heart  of  the 
country,  between  Kansas,  Nebraska,  and  the  Dakotas  on  the 
east,  and  California,  Oregon,  and  Washington  on  the  west, 
lay  a  great  region  which  had  no  attractions  for  the  farmer. 
Let  him  properly  plow  and  cultivate  the  soil,  let  him  add  to 
it  soil-food  or  fertilizers  as  much  as  he  pleases,  let  the  spring 
and  the  summer  come,  and  let  the  hot  sun  add  its  part  to 
change  the  seed  into  growing  grain — in  spite  of  all  the  farm- 
er's efforts  no  crop  could  be  obtained.  The  grain  dried  up 
almost  as  soon  as  planted.  There  was  no  water.  For  month 
after  month  no  rain  fell  upon  this  region.  It  was  called  the 
"Great  American  Desert." 

The  first  attempt  to  make  this  desert  soil  yield  a  suitable 
return  for  the  labor  of  the  farmer  was  made  at  Salt  Lake 
City.  Fifty  years  ago  a  band  of  earnest  men  braved  cold 
and  famine,  and  the  even  more  deadly  Indians,  crossed  the 
great  region  west  of  the  Mississippi  River,  and  made  a  settle- 
ment in  the  very  midst  of  the  desert  country.  To-day  the 


128 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 


desert  of  Utah  blooms  like  a  garden ;  the  soil  is  fertile  and 
yields  large  returns  to  the  industrious  inhabitants.  What 
has  made  the  change  ?  Nothing  but  water. 

If  the  heavens  refuse  to  send  rain  to  moisten  the  parched 
ground,  cannot  the  needed  water  be  obtained  in  some  other 

way  ?  The  pioneer  settlers 
of  Salt  Lake  led  the  way  in 
teaching  mankind  that  the 
ground  may  be  irrigated  by 
human  means.  Water  may 
be  carried  to  the  fields 
where,  flowing  along  the 
surface  of  the  ground,  it 
soaks  in  until  it  reaches  the 
roots  of  the  crops.  The 
water  may  be  pumped  out 
of  the  ground  or  it  may  be 
brought  from  the  moun- 
tains in  trenches  or  pipes. 
This  method  of  helping  na- 
ture by  providing  water 
where  rain  is  scarce  is 
called  irrigation. 

In  the  same  way  many 
other  sections  of  the  great 
West  have  been  reclaimed. 
Southern  California,  for- 
merly fit  only  for  the  raising  of  vast  herds  of  cattle,  is  now 
the  great  orchard  of  the  country.  Large  portions  of  New 
Mexico  and  Arizona  now  add  to  the  general  stock  of  food. 
Irrigation  bids  fair  to  be  of  vast  benefit  to  the  country  as,  lit- 
tle by  little,  barren  lands  are  rendered  fertile. 


AN  IRRIGATING  TRENCH. 


FOOD — SOIL. 


I2Q 


At  present  the  principal  grain  region  of  our  country  is  the 
great  Northwest,  the  twelve  States  west  of  Pennsylvania. 
The  principal  grain  is  corn,  and  two-thirds  of  the  entire  crop 
of  this  country  is  grown  in  the  seven  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana, 
Illinois,  Iowa,  Nebraska,  Kansas,  and  Missouri.  The  banner 
corn  State  is  Iowa. 

The  wheat  crop  is  more  valuable  to  the  world  than  the  corn. 
The  United  States  raises  one-quarter  of  all  the  wheat  grown 
in  the  world,  and  the  great  Northwest  produces  two-thirds 
of  that.  Wheat  can  be  profitably  raised  in  a  cooler  climate 
than  is  suitable  for  corn ;  therefore  the  five  Northern  States 
Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  North  and  South  Dakota 
add  their  quota  to  the  wheat  grown  in  the  seven  great  corn 
States.  Minnesota  leads  in  the  production  of  wheat.  Not 

all    the  wheat    comes 
from  this  region,  how- 
for  two  Pacific 


A  RICE  FIELD. 


States,  California  and  Oregon,  produce  one-eighth  of  the  entire 
crop  of  our  country,  and  Pennsylvania  gives  a  large  share. 

Iowa  leads  in  the  production  of  oats  as  well  as  of  corn ; 
more  than  two-thirds  of  the  oat  crop  comes  from  the  North- 


130  AMERICAN    INVENTIONS    AND    INVENTORS. 

west.  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  add  their  quota,  about 
one-eighth  of  the  total  crop.  The  Northwest  thus  provides 
two-thirds  of  the  grain,  on  much  less  than  one-half  of  the 
cultivated  land  of  the  United  States. 

Though  grain  is  the  great  agricultural  product,  it  is  not 
the  only  crop  that  we  raise  in  large  quantities.  Ten  of  the 
Southern  States  furnish  each  year  more  than  sixty  thousand 
tons  of  rice,  a  large  portion  of  which  comes  from  Louisiana 
and  South  Carolina. 

The  United  States  is  just  beginning  to  take  rank  as  a  sugar- 
producing  country.  We  now  raise  about  one-eighth  of  the 
sugar  that  we  use  each  year.  At  present  most  of  the  sugar 
comes  from  sugar  cane,  which  is  grown  mainly  in  Louisiana ; 
but  the  central  States  and  California  have  recently  begun  the 
manufacture  of  sugar  from  beets,  and  beet-growing  is  becom- 
ing an  important  industry.  The  recent  annexation  of  islands 
in  the  West  Indies  and  the  Pacific  Ocean  greatly  increases  our 
sugar  production. 

Two  other  crops  which  are  obtained  from  the  soil  must 
not  be  forgotten,  although  they  are  neither  of  them  foods. 
The  Gulf  States  furnish  nine-elevenths  of  all  the  cotton 
raised  in  the  world,  and  the  States  north  of  them  produce  a 
large  portion  of  the  world's  tobacco.  Kentucky  leads  in  the 
production  of  the  latter  staple,  raising  each  year  nearly  one- 
half  of  the  tobacco  grown  in  the  United  States. 

Grain,  cotton,  tobacco,  rice,  and  sugar  are  the  main  prod- 
ucts of  the  soil  in  the  United  States.  Each  of  these  is  pro- 
duced in  its  own  special  region,  depending  upon  the  character 
of  the  soil  and  the  climate.  The  value  of  our  agricultural 
exports  is  rapidly  increasing,  and  the  world  is  looking  more 
and  more  to  the  United  States  to  furnish  a  large  part  of  the 
food  necessary  for  all  mankind. 


CHAPTER   VI. 


A  MODERN    DINNER. 

GEORGE  BAXTER  and  his  wife  returned  to  New  York,  after 
a  winter  spent  in  California  just  a  week  before  Mrs.  Baxter's 
sister  and  her  husband  were  preparing  to  start  for  a  second 
summer  in  Europe.  A  third  sister,  Alice  Smith,  decided  to 

give  the  travelers  a 
small  dinner,  to 
which  only  the 
family  should  be  in- 
vited. 

When  the  even- 
ing arrived,  eleven 
members  of  the  At- 
wood  family  gathered 
about  the  table  in 
Mr.  Smith's  capa- 
cious dining  room, 
the  seat  of  honor 
being  given  to  the 

mother,  Mrs.  Atwood.  Besides  the  three  married  couples, 
Frank  and  Alice  Smith,  Albert  and  Mary  Fremont,  and  George 
and  Lucy  Baxter,  there  were  the  four  unmarried  children. 
James,  the  oldest  son,  was  a  banker  in  the  city;  Walter,, 
next  younger  than  Lucy,  was  a  student  fitting  for  Columbia 
University;  Fred  and  Mabel  were  still  classed  as  school 
children. 


A  DINNER  PARTY. 


132  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

After  the  trim  waiter  had  brought  on  the  soup,  the  mo- 
ment's quiet  was  broken  by  George  Baxter,  who  said  to  the 
hostess :  "  How  good  to  get  back  to  New  York  once  more,  if 
only  to  get  a  soup  that  one  can  eat  without  burning  the 
mouth  with  the  sharp  condiments.  You  have  no  seasoning 
at  all  in  the  soup,  have  you,  Alice?  " 

"Oh,  yes,"  replied  the  hostess,  "it  is  a  very  simple  soup, 
but  there  is  the  usual  pepper  and  salt.  What  have  you  been 
in  the  habit  of  having?  " 

"  I  am  sure  that  I  could  tell  what  we  did  not  have  in  some 
of  our  Mexican  soups  much  easier  than  what  we  did  have.  I 
should  think  that  there  must  have  been  both  kinds  of  pepper, 
ginger,  garlic,  mustard,  horseradish,  Worcestershire  sauce, 
and  everything  else.  I  cannot  understand  why  people  living 
in  the  tropics  want  to  season  their  food  with  such  hot  stuff." 

"What  do  you  mean  by  two  kinds  of  pepper,  brother 
George?  "  asked  Mabel. 

"Cayenne  pepper  and  black  pepper,"  was  the  reply. 

"Oh,  3'es,  I  know!  "  said  Fred.  "Cayenne  pepper  comes 
from  Cayenne  in  French  Guiana.  But  where  do  we  get  black 
pepper? " 

"  Nearly  all  of  it  comes  from  Sumatra,"  said  Mary.  "  Do 
you  know  where  Sumatra  is,  Mabel  ?  " 

"  Sumatra  is  one  of  the  large  islands  south  and  southeast 
of  Asia,  which  are  called  the  East  Indies,  "replied  the  school- 
girl. 

The  conversation  had  now  become  general,  and  Mr.  Smith 
called  attention  to  the  distance  that  these  condiments  travel 
in  reaching  us. 

"  Sumatra  is  almost  exactly  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
earth  from  us,"  said  he.  "  Fred,  how  would  the  black  pepper 
be  brought  to  New  York  from  Sumatra?  " 


FOOD — A    MODERN   DINNER.  133 

"  Across  the  Indian  Ocean  and  the  Red  Sea,  through  the 
Suez  Canal  and  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  I  suppose.  But  I  do 
not  know  whether  it  would  then  come  straight  across  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  or  first  go  to  England." 

"Usually,"  said  Mr.  Smith,  "it  would  go  to  England 
first." 

"Alice,"  broke  in  Mabel,  "what  else  is  in  the  soup  beside 
pepper?  Oh,  I  know,  salt.  Is  salt  also  brought  half-way 
round  the  world  ?  " 

"I  know  where  salt  comes  from,"  said  Fred;  "up  State. 
It  is  dug  out  of  the  ground  near  Syracuse." 

"  That  is  right,  Fred, "  said  James.  "  But  New  York  State 
does  not  supply  all  the  salt  used  in  this  country.  For  years 
many  ships  and  barks  have  come  yearly  into  Gloucester  har- 
bor from  Sicily,  bringing  salt  for  the  fishing-schooners. 
Steamers  even  are  being  used  to  bring  salt  from  the  Mediter- 
ranean Sea,  in  order  that  the  Gloucester  fishermen  may  send 
salt  fish  all  over  our  country." 

"We  must  not  forget,"  said  Mrs.  Smith,  "that  there  is 
rice  in  our  soup  also.  That  conies  from  South  Carolina." 

Just  then  the  plates  were  removed  and  the  fish  was 
brought  on. 

"This  is  a  rarity,"  said  the  hostess.  "Can  you  tell  us 
what  it  is,  James?  " 

"  I  think  so.     It  is  halibut,  is  it  not?  " 

"Why  do  you  call  it  a  rarity?  "  asked  Mary. 

"This  halibut  came  from  the  Grand  Banks,"  said  Mrs. 
Smith.  "  I  do  not  understand  how  they  get  it  here  so  fresh." 

James,  who  seemed  to  be  quite  familiar  with  the  Gloucester 
fisheries,  said:  "The  fishermen  brought  their  load  of  halibut 
to  the  Gloucester  wharves  last  night  and  immediately  loaded 
it  upon  the  Boston  steamer.  Three  o'clock  in  the  morning 


134 


AMERICAN    INVENTIONS    AND    INVENTORS. 


was  its  time  for  sailing,  and  at  six  it  was  being  unloaded  in 
Boston.  The  six-hour  trains  brought  some  of  it  to  New 
York  in  time  for  our  dinner." 

"  Steamers  and  railroad  trains  seem  necessary  for  our  din- 
ner, do  they  not?  "  said  Albert.  "  But  this  fish  sauce  contains 

only  articles  from 
nearer  home,  I  am 
sure." 

"Do  not  be  too 
certain  of  that,"  said 
Mr.  Smith.  "Alice, 
what  is  there  in  this 
sauce?  " 

"  First,  there  are 
eggs." 

"Those  came 
from  our  Long  Island 
farm,  of  course,"  said 
her  husband. 

"Then  there  is 
olive  oil." 

"That       comes 

from  Italy,"  said  Mr.  Smith.  "That  is  not  a  home  product. 
The  olives  that  you  are  eating  are,  of  course,  from  Italy 
also." 

"  I  doubt  that,"  said  George.  "  I  was  just  about  to  remark 
that  these  olives  had  come  from  California.  I  can  easily  de- 
tect the  taste." 

"Yes,"  the  hostess  added.  "These  olives  I  bought  just 
to  see  if  George  and  Lucy  would  notice  that  they  were  not 
our  usual  queen  olives.  They  are  said  to  have  come  from 
Pomona." 


LOADING  FISH  AT  GLOUCESTER. 


FOOD — A   MODERN   DINNER.  135 

"That  is  a  great  olive  center,"  said  George. 

"What  else  is  there  in  the  sauce,  Alice?"  asked  her 
husband. 

"  Pepper  and  salt,  vinegar " 

"  Cider  vinegar,  I  suppose,"  broke  in  Mrs.  Baxter.  "  How 
much  nicer  apple  vinegar  is  than  grape  vinegar !  Most  of  the 
vinegar  that  we  had  in  California  was  made  from  wine.  That 
State  is  becoming  a  great  grape-producing  region.  But  do 
you  know,  Frank,  where  the  apples  were  grown?  " 

"No,"  said  Mr.  Smith,  "but  probably  they  were  raised 
either  in  Vermont  or  New  Hampshire.  Last  year  the  New 
York  apple  orchards  gave  but  a  poor  yield,  while  those  of 
New  England  did  much  better.  Probably  this  season  will 
prove  an  off  year  for  Vermont  apples,  but  we  shall  have  all 
that  we  can  use  in  our  own  State.*' 

"A  little  lemon  ends  the  list,"  said  the  hostess. 

"Lemons  from  Sicily,  I  suppose,"  remarked  Mr.  Baxter. 
"  Have  you  tried  the  California  lemons  yet?  " 

"Yes,"  said  Mr.  Smith.  "We  can  sometimes  get  very 
fine  lemons  from  California,  but  not  always.  If  the  growers 
of  lemons  were  more  particular  about  the  quality  of  the  fruit 
that  they  send  out,  there  would  be  a  better  trade  in  California 
lemons." 

While  this  conversation  was  going  on,  the  fish  was  re- 
moved and  a  roast  of  beef  was  placed  on  the  table,  and  with 
it  the  vegetables.  The  different  members  of  the  family  had 
become  quite  interested  in  the  discussion  by  this  time,  and  it 
was  continued  as  a  matter  of  course. 

"This  is  a  good  piece  of  beef,"  remarked  James  Atwood. 
"  What  are  we  going  to  do  for  meat  when  the  natural  increase 
in  the  amount  of  land  devoted  to  cultivation  uses  up  all  the 
grazing  regions  ?  " 


136 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 


"You  need  not  fret  about  that,"  said  Mr.  Baxter;  "that 
will  not  come  in  your  day.  You  ought  to  take  a  trip  through 
Texas,  New  Mexico,  and  Arizona,  through  Wyoming  and 
Montana,  or  other  sections  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  region, 
and  you  would  not  fear  for  our  cattle-raising  interests." 

"Here,  again,  the  railroads  are  important,"  said  Mr.  Fre- 
mont.    "What  numbers  of  long  freight  trains  daily  come 
east,  loaded  with  cattle  for 
New    York    and  Boston, 
and  even  for  Great  Britain 
and  the  Continent.     The 
European  consumption  of 
our  cattle  is  of  great  and 
rapidly    growing    impor- 
tance." 

"These  new  potatoes 
came  from  the  Bermu- 
das," remarked  the  host. 

"And  the  peas  from 
Maryland,"  added  the 
hostess.  "  Do  you  not 

think   that  these   are  remarkably   fresh  after   having  been 
brought  so  far?  " 

"  How  about  the  lettuce  ?  "  asked  James.  "  That  must 
have  come  from  some  greenhouse." 

"Without  doubt,  though  I  did  not  inquire,"  replied  Mrs. 
Smith. 

Not  willing  to  leave  anything  out  of  the  conversation, 
Mabel  here  inquired  about  the  macaroni  and  tomatoes. 

"The  macaroni  comes  from  Italy,"  replied  her  sister 
Mary.  "  Much  of  it  is  shipped  from  Genoa,  the  city  which 
claims  to  have  been  the  birthplace  of  Columbus.  You  would 


A  CATTLE  TRAIN. 


FOOD — A    MODERN   DINNER.  137 

find  it  interesting,  Mabel,  to  read  about  the  production  and 
preparation  of  macaroni." 

"  The  tomatoes  were  canned  on  our  farm  last  autumn," 
said  Mrs.  Smith.  "We  think  them  much  superior  to  any 
that  we  can  buy." 

After  this  the  conversation  turned  upon  the  bread.  There 
were  two  kinds,  white  and  brown.  One  of  the  ladies  remarked 
that  she  never  ate  white  bread ;  bread  from  whole  wheat  flour 
was  so  much  more  wholesome.  Another  said  that  graham 
bread  was  good  enough  for  her.  They  talked  about  the 
white  flour,  made  in  Minneapolis,  from  Dakota  wheat. 
They  spoke  of  the  Indian  meal  made  from  corn  grown  in 
Iowa.  They  wondered  why  so  little  rye  was  used  in  this 
country,  since  it  is  the  staple  grain  in  Russia.  They  then 
inquired  concerning  the  other  substances  used  in  making  the 
two  kinds  of  bread. 

"  Where  does  the  butter  come  from  ?  "  asked  Mrs.  Fre- 
mont. 

"  This  particular  box  is  marked  from  Delaware  County, 
New  York,"  replied  the  hostess.  "Most  of  the  creameries 
that  send  butter  to  New  York  City  are  located  at  some  distance 
from  the  railroads.  The  farms  nearer  the  railroads  send  all 
their  milk  to  the  city.  But  the  farmers  that  are  too  remote 
profitably  to  send  in  the  milk  make  the  cream  into  butter 
and  cheese.  They  then  feed  the  buttermilk  to  the  pigs." 

"  That  is  a  new  thought  to  me,"  said  James.  "  So  it  seems 
that  some  products  are  made  only  where  there  are  no  rail- 
roads." 

"  Or  where  there  is  no  great  city  within  a  few  hundred 
miles,"  added  Walter. 

"  I  suppose  there  is  molasses  in  this  brown  bread,"  said 
Lucy  Baxter. 


138  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

"Molasses  comes  from  Porto  Rico,"  said  Mabel,  who  was 
studying  the  West  Indies  just  at  this  time  in  her  geography 
lessons  at  school. 

"Some  of  it,"  said  her  oldest  sister.  "But  most  of  the 
sugar  comes  from  Cuba." 

" But  not  all,"  said  James.  "This  sugar  has  been  travel- 
ing for  nearly  two  weeks  to  reach  New  York.  First  a  sea 
voyage  of  more  than  two  thousand  miles,  and  then  a  railroad 
journey  of  more  than  three  thousand  miles,  and  yet  the  sec- 
tion where  it  grew  is  a  part  of  the  United  States." 

"It  must  have  come  from  Honolulu  then,"  said  Walter. 
"  I  wonder  whether  the  Sandwich  Islands,  being  now  a  part 
of  the  United  States,  will  interfere  with  the  raising  of  sugar- 
cane in  our  Southern  States?  " 

"Very  little  probably,  but  now  that  the  United  States 
possesses  Hawaii  and  Porto  Rico,  it  will  scarcely  be  necessary 
for  us  to  import  any  sugar  and  molasses,"  said  Fred. 

When  the  dessert  and  fruit  were  brought  on,  new  subjects 
for  conversation  were  found. 

"What  do  you  call  this  pudding,  Alice?  "  asked  her  hus- 
band. 

"It  is  a  peach-tapioca  pudding,"  was  the  reply.  "The 
peaches  are  from  Delaware;  canned,  of  course." 

"  Here,  again,  the  West  Indies  are  represented,"  said 
James;  "the  tapioca  came  from  Hayti." 

"And  the  East  Indies  also,"  added  Walter,  "for  I  taste 
nutmeg,  which  comes  from  the  Molucca  Islands.  These 
islands  furnish  such  an  amount  of  spice  that  they  are  com- 
monly called  the  Spice  Islands." 

The  discussion  of  foods  continued  throughout  the  dinner. 
The  oranges,  almost  the  last  of  the  season,  had  been  brought 
from  California.  Florida  oranges  were  scarce  that  year.  The 


FOOD— A   MODERN  DINNER. 

bananas  were  from  Mexico  and  almost  a  luxury.  The  war 
with  Spain  had  destroyed  trade  with  Cuba,  from  which  island 
the  great  bulk  of  bananas  had  usually  come. 

Among  the  nuts  were  almonds  that  had  been  imported 
from  Italy,  filberts  that  had  been  sent  across  the  ocean  from 


DRYING  COFFEE  IN  JAVA. 

England,  and  walnuts  that  had  come  from  California.  Fi- 
nally the  coffee  was  from  the  island  of  Java. 

Before  the  dinner  party  broke  up,  Mr.  Smith  reviewed 
the  facts  which  had  been  learned  in  the  conversation.  He 
especially  called  attention  to  the  small  number  of  articles 
that  are  not  profitably  raised  in  the  United  States. 

"  We  should  miss  our  coffee  very  much,"  he  said,  "if  our 
country  were  blockaded  at  any  time.  The  loss  of  the  banana 
would  be  the  loss  of  a  luxury.  Had  we  no  macaroni  or 
tapioca  we  should  still  have  enough  to  eat.  Perhaps  our 
taste  would  become  more  natural  were  we  deprived  of  pep- 


140  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

per.  No  other  of  the  foods  on  this  table  should  we  be  en- 
tirely deprived  of,  even  were  we  separated  wholly  from  the 
rest  of  the  world.  California  could  furnish  us  with  olives, 
lemons,  and  almonds,  as  well  as  Italy  does.  We  need  not 
go  to  England  for  filberts,  and  even  if  we  had  not  of  late 
obtained  new  colonies,  we  could  produce  in  time  all  the  sugar 
we  needed  to  supply  the  entire  country.  No  other  nation  in 
the  world  is  so  well  prepared  to  furnish  its  own  food." 


ELI  WHITNEY. 


SECTION  IV.-CLOTHING. 


SECTION  IV.— CLOTHING. 

CHAPTER  I. 
COLONIAL   CONDITIONS. 

You  all  know  that  the  United  States  of  America  was 
formed  out  of  thirteen  English  colonies  scattered  along  the 
Atlantic  coast.  Virginia  was  the  first  of  these  colonies  to 
be  founded,  dating  from  1607.  Massachusetts  was  settled  in 
1620,  New  York  in  1623,  and  so  on  until  the  last  of  the  thir- 
teen, Georgia,  was  established  in  1733.  From  the  time  of 
these  settlements  until  the  Declaration  of  Independence  in 
1776,  these  colonies  were  subject  to  Great  Britain  and  under 
her  rule  and  control.  The  independence  of  these  American 
colonies  was  a  great  loss  to  the  British  government,  but  it 
created  a  new  nation  of  the  same  race  which,  together  with 
the  mother  country,  to-day  holds  the  destiny  of  the  world  in 
its  hands. 

Great  Britain  for  centuries  has  been  largely  a  manufac- 
turing country.  It  was  the  policy  of  the  British  government 
to  control  so  far  as  possible  manufactures  and  commerce  for 
all  her  provinces  and  colonies.  Hence  during  our  colonial 
period  the  home  government  took  every  possible  measure 
to  prevent  the  introduction  of  manufactures  into  the  colo- 
nies. We  were  dependent  upon  the  mother  country  for  cot- 
ton and  woolen  goods,  cutlery,  iron  ware,  and,  indeed,  almost 
everything  that  could  be  profitably  manufactured  in  England 
and  shipped  to  this  country.  Even  after  we  had  secured  our 


144  AMERICAN    INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

independence,  the  strictest  care  was  taken  by  the  officials  of 
England  that  drawings  and  models  of  machinery  should  not 
be  brought  to  America. 

As  late  as  1816  an  American  manufacturer  of  cotton  cloth 
visited  England.  Although  he  carried  letters  of  introduc- 
tion which  caused  him  to  be  treated  with  great  courtesy  and 
attention,  he  was  refused  permission  to  enter  any  of  the  cot- 
ton mills.  The  manufacturers  suspected  his  purpose,  which 
was  to  learn  the  construction  of  the  "double  speeder."  Nev- 
ertheless he  persisted,  and  one  day,  without  permission  and 
in  spite  of  the  sign  "Positively  no  Admittance,"  he  entered 
the  carding-room,  accompanied  by  a  skilled  mechanic.  They 
proceeded  as  rapidly  as  possible  to  examine  the  machine, 
which  was  in  full  operation,  but  were  soon  ordered  out  by 
the  overseer.  They  had,  however,  seen  enough  of  its  con- 
struction to  enable  them  to  make  one. 

After  their  return  to  this  country  they  made  a  machine  and 
set  it  up  in  the  gentleman's  cotton  mill  in  the  State  of  New- 
York.  The  news  of  its  successful  operation  reached  England 
and  aroused  a  jealous  feeling  among  manufacturers.  In  their 
anger  they  planned  a  wicked  scheme  to  destroy  the  life  of 
the  American  manufacturer.  A  box  containing  an  "  infernal 
machine  "  was  sent  as  freight  on  a  packet  ship  bound  for 
New  York.  Fortunately,  when  the  crew  was  discharging 
the  cargo,  the  box  slipped  from  the  car  hook  and  fell  with 
a  crash  upon  the  wharf.  This  caused  it  to  explode,  but  with- 
out injury  to  any  one. 

In  colonial  times  the  condition  of  society  was  such  as  to 
make  it  almost  impossible  for  the  people  to  engage  to  any 
great  extent  in  manufactures.  The  country  was  new  and 
the  principal  business  must  be  agriculture.  After  comfort- 
able shelter  for  the  families  had  been  provided,  every  exer- 


CLOTIIINf;— COLONIAL    CONDITIONS. 


tion  must  be  put  forth  to  secure  food.  Cloth  could  only  be 
obtained  from  the  mother  country.  Cotton  and  linen  cloth 
were  imported  for  shirts  and  sheets,  woolen  goods  for  clothing, 
a  few  silks  for  wedding  dresses  now  and  then,  and  leather  for 
the  shoes  of  all  the  people. 

In  the  early  times  the 
tailor,  with  his  goose  and 
his  shears,  plied  his  trade 
from  house  to  house,  stay- 
ing with  each  family  long 
enough  to  make  up  the 
clothes  necessary  for  the 
season.  In  like  manner  J 
the  shoemaker  traveled 
about  the  country,  with  his 
kit  upon  his  back,  stopping 

with  each  household  to  make  the  shoes  needed  for  the 
father,  mother,  and  children. 

These  were  the  pioneer  days,  but,  before  we  became  a 
nation,  the  houses  of  the  people  had  greatly  improved  in 
style  of  architecture  and  in  comfort.  Considerable  wealth 
had  been  secured  by  many,  and  but  little  poverty  was  found 
anywhere.  The  mechanic  arts  were  beginning  to  improve, 
and  manufacturing,  after  a  long  and  tedious  waiting,  was 
gradually  making  progress.  At  an  early  date  sawmills  had 
been  established  upon  the  streams,  using  the  water  as  motive 
power.  Gristmills  had  sprung  up  for  grinding  the  grain 
raised  by  every  farmer.  The  spinning  wheel  and  the  hand 
loom  had  found  their  place  slowly  but  steadily  in  all  parts  of 
the  country. 

It  is  difficult  to  comprehend  the  great  differences  between 

the  industries  of  those  early  days  and  the  methods  of  doing 
10 


TAILOR  AND  COBBLER. 


146  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

business  among  us  to-day.  Now  almost  everything  seems  to 
be  done  by  machinery,  and  the  division  of  labor  has  been 
carried  to  such  an  extent  that  each  laborer  seems  only  an  as- 
sistant to  a  machine.  "  You  press  the  button,  the  machine 
does  the  rest." 

In  the  early  days  of  our  country,  it  was  customary  for  the 
different  members  of  a  family  to  do  almost  everything  that 
the  necessities  or  comfort  of  the  household  required.  Every- 
where the  farmer  raised  sheep,  sheared  them,  carded  the 
wool,  spun  it  and  wove  it,  all  this  being  done  upon  the  home 
farm.  A  well-to-do  farmer  would  produce  all  the  woolen 
cloth  needed  for  clothing  for  himself  and  his  family. 

The  sheep  grazed  upon  the  hills  and  their 
wool  was  clipped  in  the  spring  of  the  year.  /   \ 

This  wool  was  scoured,  carded,  spun  by  the  /*'    ;j 

family  in  the  farmhouse,  and  then  woven 
into  cloth  for  the  winter's  wear.  All  this  was 
done  within  the  walls  of  the  house,  and  the 
cloth  was  made  up  into 
clothing  for  the  different 
members  of  the  family 
by  the  itinerant  tailor. 
What  a  contrast  from  the 
present  system,  which 
raises  wool  upon  our 
Western  hills  and  prai- 
ries, makes  it  into  cloth 
in  the  large  factories,  and 
fashions  it  into  trousers, 
vests,  and  coats  in  the 
great  wholesale  clothing 
establishments.  M*-  FLAX  WHEEL. 


CLOTHING — COLONIAL   CONDITIONS. 


In  some  sections  of  the  country  the  farmers  raised  flax, 
and  from  it  made  the  purest  white  linen  cloth.     The  writer 
of  this  chapter  has  in  his  possession  a  beautiful  piece  of  white 
linen,  woven  upon  the  farm 
where    he    was    born,    from 
thread  which  was  spun  from 
flax    raised    upon    the    same 
farm.      The  flax  wheel   and 
the  loom  were  also  made  by 
the  father  of  the  family. 

If  you  could  look  into  that 
old  kitchen  what  a  sight  you 
would  see!  How  quaint  it 
would  appear  to  each  one  of 
you !  The  kitchen  makes  an 
ell  to  the  main  house.  This 

ell  was  an  old  house,  built  more  than  a  century  and  a  half 
ago,  and  moved  up  to  the  new  house  for  a  kitchen.  In  one 
corner  stands  the  large  spinning  wheel;  near  it  is  the  smaller 
flax  wheel ;  in  another  corner  stands  the  great  wooden  loom 
with  its  huge  beam  for  the  warp  and  its  shuttle  which  must  be 
thrown  back  and  forth  by  hand.  No  carpet,  not  even  an  oil- 
cloth, is  upon  the  floor,  which  is  covered  with  pure  white 
sand. 

It  would  seem  very  strange  to  us  if  we  were  obliged  to 
live  surrounded  by  these  primitive  conditions.  How  much 
stranger  would  it  appear  to  those  who  lived  at  that  day  if 
they  could  witness  the  improvements  of  our  time  I 


AN  OLD-FASHIONED  LOOM. 


CHAPTER    II. 
THE   COTTON  GIN. 

IN  the  quiet  times  that  followed  the  French  and  Indian 
War,  two  years  after  the  Treaty  of  1763,  Eli  Whitney  was 
born  in  Worcester  County  in  Massachusetts.  During  the 
Revolutionary  War  he  was  busy  making  nails  by  hand,  the 
only  way  in  which  nails  were  made  in  those  days.  He  earned 
money  enough  by  this  industry  and  by  teaching  school  to  pay 
his  way  through  college.  But  it  was  a  slow  process,  and  he 
was  nearly  twenty-seven  years  of  age  when  he  was  gradu- 
ated at  Yale.  Immediately  upon  his  graduation  he  went  to 
Georgia, — a  long  distance  from  home  in  those  days, — having 
made  an  engagement  to  become  a  private  tutor  in  a  wealthy 
family  of  that  State.  On  his  arrival  he  found  that  the  man 
who  had  engaged  his  services,  unmindful  of  the  contract,  had 
filled  the  position  with  another  tutor. 

The  widow  of  the  famous  Gen.  Nathaniel  Greene  had  a 
beautiful  home  at  Mulberry  Grove,  on  the  Savannah  River. 
Mrs.  Greene  invited  young  Whitney  to  make  her  house  his 
home  while  he  studied  law.  She  soon  perceived  that  he  had 
great  inventive  genius.  He  devised  several  articles  of  con- 
venience which  Mrs.  Greene  much  appreciated. 

At  that  time  the  entire  cotton  crop  of  this  country  might 
have  been  produced  upon  a  single  field  of  two  hundred  acres. 
Cotton  then  commanded  a  very  high  price,  because  of  the 
labor  of  sepajg^ing  the  cotton  fibre  from  the  seed.  The  cot- 
ton clung  to  the  seed  with  such  tenacity  that  one  man  could 


CLOTHING — THE   COTTON    GIN. 


149 


separate  the  seed  from  only  four  or  five  pounds  of  cotton  in 
a  day.  At  that  rate  it  would  take  him  three  months  to  make 
up  a  bale  of  clear  cotton.  Already  inventions  in  machinery 

for  the  making  of  cotton  cloth 
had  made  the  production  of 
cotton  a  necessity.  Some 
means  must  be  provided  for 
a  more  rapid  separation  of 
cotton  from  the  seed  in  or- 
der to  make  manufacturing 
profitable. 

One  day,  one  of  Mrs. 
Greene's  friends  was  regret- 
ting, in  conversation  with 
her,  that  there  could  be  no 
profit  in  the  cultivation  of 
cotton.  Mrs.  Greene  had 
great  faith  in  the  inventive 
powers  of  young  Whitney, 
and  she  suggested  that  he  be 
asked  to  make  a  machine 
which  would  separate  the 
seed  skillfully  and  rapidly, 
"for,"  said  she,  "'Eli  Whit- 
ney  can  make  anything." 

When  the  workmen  in  the  deep  mines  of  England  needed 
a  safety  lamp  to  shield  them  from  the  explosions  of  the  damp, 
they  applied  to  the  great  chemist,  Sir  Humphrey  Davy,  and 
he  invented  one.  So,  these  cotton  raisers  appealed  to  Mr. 
Whitney  to  invent  for  them  a  cotton  engine  or  "gin."  He 
knew  nothing  about  either  raw  cotton  or  cotton  seed.  Could 
he  be  expected  to  invent  a  machine  that  would  separate  the 


A  COTTON  FIELD. 


ISO 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 


cotton  seed  which  he  had  never  seen  from  the  raw  cotton 
which  also  he  had  never  seen?  But  Whitney  was  an  in« 
ventor.  Trifles  must  not  stand  in  his  way.  He  secured 
samples  of  the  cotton  and  the  seed ;  even  this  was  not  an 
easy  thing  to  do,  for  it  was  not  the  right  season  of  the  year. 

He  began  to  work  out  his  idea  of  the  cotton  gin,  but  met 
with  many  obstacles.     There  were  no  wire  manufactories  in 
the  South  and  he  could  not  obtain  wire  even  in  Savannah. 
Therefore  he  had  to  make  his  wire  himself.     Still  further, 
he  was  obliged  to  manufacture  his  own  iron  tools.     Step  by 
step  he  overcame  all    obstacles, 
until  he  had  a  machine  that  he 
thought  would  answer  the   pur- 
pose. 

Accordingly,  one  day,  he  en- 
tered the  room  where  Mrs. 
Greene  was  conversing  with 
friends  and  exclaimed,  "The 
victory  is  mine !  "  All  the  guests, 
as  well  as  the  hostess,  went  with 
the  inventor  to  examine  the  ma- 
chine. He  set  the  model  in 
motion.  It  consisted  of  a  cylin- 
der four  feet  in  length  and  five 
inches  in  diameter.  Upon  this 
was  a  series  of  circular  saws  half 

an  inch  apart  and  projecting  two  inches  above  the  surface  of 
the  revolving  cylinder.  The  saws  passed  through  narrow 
slits  between  bars;  these  bars  might  be  called  the  ribs  of 
the  hopper. 

At  once  the  saw  teeth  caught  the  cotton  which  had  been 
placed  in  the  hopper  and  carried  it  over  between  the  bars. 


A    COTTON    BALL. 


CLOTHING  -  THE    COTTON  GIN.  15! 

The  seed  was  left  behind,  as  it  was  too  large  to  pass  through. 
The  saws  revolved  smoothly  and  the  cotton  was  thoroughly 
separated  from  the  seed.  But  after  a  few  minutes  the  saws 
became  clogged  with  the  cotton  and  the  wheels  stopped.  Poor 
Whitney  was  in  despair.  Victory  was  not  yet  his. 

Mrs.  Greene  came  to  the  rescue.     Her  housewifely  in- 
stincts saw  the  difficulty  at  once  and  the  remedy  as  well. 

"  Here's  what  you 
want  !  "  she  e  x  - 
claimed.  She  took  a 
clothes  brush  hanging 
near  by  and  held  it 
firmly  against  the 
teeth  of  the  saws. 

THE  COTTON  GIN. 


again  to  revolve,  for 

the  saws  were  quickly  cleaned  of  the  lint,  which  no  longer 
clogged  the  teeth.  "  Madam,  "  said  the  grateful  Whitney, 
"you  have  perfected  my  invention." 

The  inventor  added  a  second,  larger  cylinder,  near  the 
first.  On  this  he  placed  a  set  of  stiff  brushes.  As  the  two 
cylinders  revolved,  the  brushes  freed  the  saw  teeth  from  the 
cotton  and  left  it  in  the  receiving  pan. 

Thus  the  cotton  gin  was  invented  by  the  Yankee  schoolmas- 
ter, Eli  Whitney.  Though  improved  in  its  workmanship  and 
construction,  it  is  still  in  use  wherever  cotton  is  raised.  One 
man  with  a  Whitney  cotton  gin  can  clean  a  thousand  pounds 
of  cotton  in  place  of  the  five  pounds  formerly  cleaned  by  hand. 

When  a  safety  lamp  was  needed,  Davy  invented  it. 
When  faster  water  travel  was  demanded,  Fulton  constructed 
the  steamboat.  When  the  world  needed  vast  wheat  fields, 
McCormick  devised  his  reaper.  When  the  time  had  come 


I$2  AMERICAN    INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

for  the  telegraph,  Morse  studied  it  out.  In  the  fullness  of 
time,  Bell,  Edison,  and  others  invented  the  telephone.  When 
a  cotton  gin  was  needed,  Eli  Whitney  made  it.  Here  again 
the  law  holds  that  "necessity  is  the  mother  of  invention." 

When  a  great  invention  is  made,  everybody  wants  the 
benefit  of  it,  and  people  seem  to  think  that  the  inventor  "  has 
no  rights  which  they  are  bound  to  respect."  Whitney  se- 
cured a  patent  upon  his  machine,  but,  unmindful  of  that,  a 
great  many  persons  began  to  make  cotton  gins.  He  was  im- 
mediately involved  in  numerous  legal  contests.  Before  he 
secured  a  single  verdict  in  his  favor  he  had  sixty  lawsuits 
pending.  After  many  delays  he  finally  secured  the  payment 
of  $50,000  which  the  Legislature  of  South  Carolina  had  voted 
him.  North  Carolina  allowed  him  a  percentage  on  all  cotton 
gins  used  in  that  State  for  five  years.  Tennessee  promised 
to  do  the  same,  but  did  not  keep  her  promise. 

Mr.  Whitney  struggled  along,  year  after  year,  until  he 
was  convinced  that  he  should  never  receive  a  just  return  for 
his  invention.  Seeing  no  way  to  gain  a  competence  from  the 
cotton  gin  he  determined  to  continue  the  contest  no  longer, 
removed  to  New  Haven  and  turned  his  attention  to  the  mak- 
ing of  firearms.  Here  he  eventually  gained  a  fortune.  He 
made  such  improvements  in  the  manufacture  of  firearms  as 
to  lay  his  country  under  permanent  obligation  to  him  for 
greatly  increasing  the  means  of  national  defense. 

Robert  Fulton  once  said :  "  Arkwright,  Watt,  and  Whit- 
ney were  the  three  men  that  did  the  most  for  mankind  of 
any  of  their  contemporaries."  Macaulay  said :  "What  Peter 
the  Great  did  to  make  Russia  dominant,  Eli  Whitney's  in- 
vention of  the  cotton  gin  has  more  than  equaled  in  its  relation 
to  the  power  and  progress  of  the  United  States." 


CHAPTER  III. 
COTTON. 

ALMOST  exactly  in  the  center  of  England  is  the  County 
of  Derby.  A  few  miles  north  of  the  city  of  Derby,  on  a 
small  river  called  Derwent,  a  branch  of  the  Trent,  is  the  lit- 
tle town  of  Belper.  This  town  was  noted  for  its  early  manu.- 
facture  of  cotton  and  silk  goods.  Here,  about  the  time  of 
the  American  Revolution,  Richard  Arkwright  and  Jedediah 
Strutt  were  successfully  engaged  in  cotton  spinning. 

Tn  this  town,  in  1763,  was  born  Samuel  Slater.  As  the 
lad  grew  up,  his  father,  a  well-to-do  farmer,  sent  him  to 
school  where  he  received  the  advantages  of  a  good  English 
education.  His  school  days,  however,  ended  when  he  was 
fourteen  years  of  age.  He  was  greatly  interested  in  machin- 
ery. The  hum  of  the  spinning  frame  was  music  .to  his  ears. 
Therefore,  he  was  apprenticed  to  Mr.  Strutt  to  learn  the  busi- 
ness of  cotton  spinning,  and  gained  a  thorough  mastery  of 
the  process  of  carding  and  spinning  cotton,  and  even  while 
an  apprentice  he  made  many  improvements  in  machinery. 

At  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  was  adopted  and  George  Washington 
became  President.  We  have  already  seen  that  England  did 
not  permit  her  American  colonies  to  engage  to  any  great 
extent  in  manufacturing.  But  now,  the  very  first  Congress 
under  Washington  passed  an  act  to  encourage  manufactures, 
and  one  or  two  of  the  States  offered  bounties  for  the  intro- 
duction of  cotton  machinery. 


154  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS  AND   INVENTORS. 

Young  Slater,  now  about  twenty-one  years  of  age,  deter, 
mined  to  emigrate  to  America.  Since  the  laws  of  England 
did  not  permit  him  to  take  drawings  or  models  with  him,  he 
had  to  trust  entirely  to  his  memory  to  construct  new  ma- 
chinery when  he  should  arrive  in  this  country.  He  landed 
in  New  York  in  November,  1789,  and  soon  after  wrote  to 
Moses  Brown,  a  wealthy  merchant  of  Providence,  Rhode 
Island,  telling  him  what  he  could  do  and  asking  his  help. 
Mr.  Brown  immediately  replied :  "  If  thou  canst  do  this 
thing,  I  invite  thee  to  come  to  Rhode  Island  and  have  the 
credit  of  introducing  cotton  manufactures  into  America." 

So  it  happened  that  on  the  2ist  of  December,  1790,  Sam- 
uel Slater,  representing  the  business  firm  of  "  Almy,  Brown 
and  Slater,"  set  up  at  Pawtucket  three  eigh teen-inch  carding 
machines,  with  the  necessary  drawing  heads,  roving  cases, 
winders,  and  spinning  frames,  with  seventy-two  spindles. 
Here,  in  an  old  fulling  mill,  and  by  water  pbwer,  was  started 
machinery  for  the  making  of  cotton  yarn.  Mr.  Slater  had 
been  obliged  to  prepare  all  the  plans  of  this  machinery,  and 
either  to  construct  it  with  his  own  hands  or  to  teach  others 
how  to  do  it.  From  the  first  the  enterprise  was  successful. 
An  excellent  quality  of  yarn  was  manufactured,  quite  equal  to 
the  best  quality  then  made  in  England.  No  attempts  were 
made  to  use  water  power  in  weaving  the  yarn  into  cloth. 
This  was  still  done  by  hand  looms  in  the  farmhouses  of  the 
country.  A  second  cotton  factory  was  started  in  the  year 
1800,  and  within  ten  years  from  that  date  there  were  many 
of  them  in  different  parts  of  the  land. 

When  Mr.  Slater  came  to  America,  he  left  at  his  father's 
house  in  Belper  a  little  brother.  In  1 805  this  brother,  now 
grown  to  manhood,  came  to  America,  and  went  to  Pawtucket 
to  find  his  brother  Samuel.  Here  he  found  Mr.  Wilkinson, 


CLOTHING — COTTON.  155 

a  brother-in-law  of  Mr.  Slater.  Mr.  Wilkinson  took  him  to 
his  brother's  house  and  said :  '*'  I  have  brought  one  of  your 
countrymen  to  see  you;  can  you  find  anything  for  him  to 
do?  "  Mr.  Slater  asked  from  what  part  of  England  he  came. 

He  replied:  "Derbyshire." 

"  What  part  of  Derbyshire?  "  said  Mr.  Slater. 

"  I  came  from  the  town  of  Belper,"  said  John. 

"  Belper,  the  town  of  Belper?  Well,  that  is  where  I  came 
from.  What  may  I  call  your  name?  " 

"John  Slater." 

The  boy  had  changed  so  much  that  his  older  brother  did 
not  know  him.  The  interview  was  a  delightful  one  to  both; 
it  was  like  the  meeting  of  Joseph  and  Benjamin.  Questions 
and  answers  flew  rapidly. 

"Is  my  mother  yet  alive?  How  are  my  brothers  and  sis- 
ters? How  is  my  old  master,  Mr.  Strutt?  Is  the  old  school- 
master Jackson  living?  " 

The  next  year  the  two  brothers  built  a  cotton  mill  in 
Smithfield,  Rhode  Island,  and  in  1808  a  large  stone  mill  was 
erected  at  Blackstone,  Massachusetts. 

So  the  business  continued  to  increase.  The  power  loom 
was  invented,  and  soon  the  manufacture  of  cotton  cloth  be- 
came one  of  the  leading  interests  of  New  England.  The  mills 
of  Lowell  became  famous.  Manchester,  in  New  Hamp- 
shire, Lawrence  and  Fall  River,  in  Massachusetts,  were  soon 
dotted  with  great  mills  turning  out  cloth  of  all  varieties  by 
the  million  yards.  The  falls  upon  the  rivers  of  New  Eng- 
land were  utilized,  by  means  of  the  water  wheel,  to  furnish 
power  for  moving  all  the  machinery  used  in  the  making  of 
cotton  goods.  The  song  of  the  picker,  the  hum  of  the  spin- 
ning frame,  and  the  whack,  whack  of  the  loom  are  now 
heard  in  a  thousand  mills  in  various  parts  of  our  country. 


156 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 


Mr.  Slater  was  visited  at  one  time  by  Andrew  Jackson 
while  he  was  President.  It  is  related  that  the  following 
conversation  took  place  between  them : 

"  I  understand,"  said  the  President,  "  that  you  have  taught 
us  how  to  spin  so  as  to  rival  Great  Britain  and  that  it  is  you 
who  have  set  all  these  thousands  of  spindles  at  work,  which 
I  have  been  so  delighted  to  see,  and  which  are  making  so 
many  people  happy  by  giving  them  employment." 

"Yes  sir,"  said  Mr.  Slater,"!  suppose  that  I  gave  out  the 
Psalm,  and  they  have  been  singing  the  tune  ever  since." 

Samuel  Slater  died  in  1835,  leaving  a  large  fortune  to  his 
family.  John  Slater  died  a  few  years  after  the  death  of  his 
brother.  It  was  his  son,  John  F.  Slater,  who  in  1882  placed 
$1,000,000  in  the  hands  of  aboard  of  trustees,  the  interest 

of  which  was  to  be 
used  for  the  educa- 
tion of  the  freedmen 
of  the  South  and  their 
descendants.  The 
great  Rhode  Island 
orator,  Tristam  Bur- 
gess, said  in  Congress 
on  one  occasion :  "  If 
manufacturing  estab- 
lishments are  a  bene- 
fit and  a  blessing  to 
the  Union,  the  name 
of  Slater  must  ever 
be  held  in  grateful 
remembrance  by  the  American  people." 

It  would  be  next  to  impossible  to  give  any  adequate  ac- 
count of  the  improvements  which  have  been  made  in  Amer« 


PRESIDENT  JACKSON  AND  MR.  SLATER. 


CLOTHING — COTTON. 


157 


ican  machinery  for  the  manufacture  of  cotton  cloth.     Begin- 
ning with  the  cotton  gin  and  the  introduction  of  the  carding 

machine    and     

the  spinning 
frame  by  Sla- 
ter, we  should 
have  to  record 
the  great  suc- 
cess  of  the 
double  speed- 
e  r,  the  mod- 
e  r  n  drawing- 
frame,  the 
Crompton  and 
the  Whitin 
looms,  and  es- 
pecially the 
ring  traveler 
spinning  frame  and  the  self-operating  cotton  mule. 

In  1791,  200,000  pounds  of  cotton  were  exported,  very 
little  being  used  in  this  country.  In  1891,  the  cotton  pro- 
duced in  America  reached  more  than  3,500,000,000  pounds. 
This  cotton  is  now  grown  in  the  Southern  States  upon  more 
than  20,000,000  acres  of  ground.  The  mills  of  America  to- 
day are  using  more  than  2,000,000  bales  of  cotton  per  year. 
In  1793,  Samuel  Slater  started  seventy-two  spindles  to  spin 
cotton;  in  1893,  there  were  15,000,000  spindles.  To  such 
great  proportions  has  this  industry  grown  from  the  small 
beginnings  of  Samuel  Slater's  bold  attempt  to  bring  over 
from  England  in  his  memory  the  machinery  necessary  to  its 
manufacture. 


THE  INTERIOR  OF  A  MODERN  COTTON  MILL. 


CHAPTER  IV 
WOOL. 

As  civilization  has  advanced,  the  clothing  of  man  has  im- 
proved. To-day  a  great  variety  of  material  is  necessary  to 
make  up  the  proper  wardrobe  for  civilized  man.  Our  cloth- 
ing is  nearly  all  fabricated — that  is,  manufactured  from  the 
raw  material  into  what  we  call  fabrics.  We  have  cotton, 
woolen,  silk,  and  linen  fabrics.  The  two  principal  articles 
used  for  our  clothing,  however,  are  wool  and  cotton.  Cotton 
and  linen  are  more  largely  used  in  warm  weather  and  in 
warm  climates,  while  woolen  has  come  into  general  use  for 
wear  in  colder  climates  and  in  colder  seasons. 

The  making  of  woolen  cloth  is  one  of  the  oldest  indus- 
tries. In  the  early  ages  the  coarse  wool  of  the  sheep  was 
spun  into  long  threads,  then  woven  and  made  into  rude  gar- 
ments for  the  clothing  of  man.  The  dyeing  of  these  cloths, 
by  which  brilliant  colors  were  produced,  was  one  of  the  ear- 
liest of  the  fine  arts.  Many  centuries  ago  the  Egyptians,  the 
Persians,  the  Greeks,  and  the  Romans  made  shawls  and  robes 
of  beautiful  texture  and  brilliant  colors.  They  also  made 
mats,  rugs,  tent  cloths,  curtains,  and  tapestry  hangings. 

During  the  last  four  hundred  years  steady  progress  has 
been  made  in  the  construction  of  woolen  fabrics.  Long  ago 
England  became  famous  for  the  manufacture  of  worsted 
goods,  carpets,  and  broadcloths.  Machinery  for  making 
woolen  cloth  was  introduced  into  England  during  the  latter 
half  of  the  last  century.  The  spinning  jenny  came  into  use 


CLOTHING — WOOL.  1 5  9 

a  little  after  1750,  and  the  power  loom  was  invented  near 
the  close  of  the  century. 

No  machinery  for  making  woolen  cloth,  except  by  hand 
spinning  and  hand  weaving,  was  introduced  into  our  country 
until  about  the  year  1800.  How  do  you  suppose  our  fore- 
fathers and  foremothers  managed  to  make  the  cloth  needed 
before  the  introduction  of  machinery  and  the  building  of 
factories?  A  single  incident  may  explain  how  it  was  done. 

Rev.  Dr.  Eliphalet  Nott  was  president  of  Union  College, 
Schenectady,  New  York,  for  more  than  sixty  years.  He  was 
born  in  Connecticut  just  before  the  American  Revolution. 
His  father  was  very  poor,  but  a  conscientious,  godly  man. 
He  lived  on  a  farm  four  miles  from  the  village  and  the 
church.  During  the  early  boyhood  of  Eliphalet  his  father 
had  no  horse,  and  in  bad  weather,  when  the  family  could  not 
walk  to  church,  they  were  drawn  over  the  rough  and  hilly 
roads  of  that  long  four  miles  by  their  only  cow.  Yet  they 
were  always  at  church. 

One  winter,  Mr.  Nott's  overcoat  had  become  so  shabby 
that  Mrs.  Nott  told  her  husband  it  was  not  fit  to  be  worn  to 
church  any  longer.  He  had  no  money  to  buy  a  new  one. 
Should  he  stay  away  from  divine  service?  Not  he!  To  this 
proposition  neither  he  nor  his  wife  would  assent.  Soon, 
however,  the  good  woman  devised  a  plan  to  free  them  from 
the  difficulty.  She  suggested  to  her  husband  that  they 
should  shear  their  only  "cosset"  lamb,  and  that  the  fleece 
would  furnish  wool  enough  for  a  new  overcoat. 

"  What ! "  said  the  old  man,  "  shear  the  cosset  in  Janu- 
ary? It  will  freeze." 

"Ah,  no,  it  will  not,"  said  the  wife,  "I  will  see  to  that; 
the  lamb  shall  not  suffer." 

She  sheared  the  cosset  and  then  wrapped  it  in  a  blanket 


I6O  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

of  burlaps,  well  sewed  on,  which  kept  it  warm  until  its  wool 
had  grown  again.  This  fleece  Mrs.  Nott  carded,  spun,  and 
wove  into  cloth,  which  she  cut  and  made  into  a  garment  for 
her  husband,  and  he  wore  it  to  church  on  the  following  Sab- 
bath. 

The  first  attempt  to  manufacture  woolen  cloth  other  than 
by  hand  was  made  at  Newburyport,  Massachusetts,  by  two 
Englishmen,  Arthur  and  John  Scholfield.  They  had  learned 
the  business  in  England,  and  now  put  in  operation  the  first 
carding  machine  for  wool  made  in  the  United  States.  Upon 
this  they  made  the  first  spinning  rolls  turned  out  by  ma- 
chinery. The  same  year  they  built  a  factory,  three  stories 
high  and  one  hundred  feet  long,  in  the  Byfield  district,  at 
Newburyport.  The  two  brothers  carried  on  the  factory  for 
a  company  of  gentlemen  who  were  the  stockholders.  Arthur 
was  overseer  of  the  carding;  John  was  in  charge  of  the 
weaving  room. 

This  application  of  machinery  to  the  making  of  woolen 
cloth  created  much  interest  in  the  country,  and  wool  was 
brought  from  long  distances.  People  visited  the  factory  from 
far  and  near.  These  visitors  became  so  numerous  that  an 
admission  fee  of  ten  cents  was  charged.  During  the  first 
winter  after  the  factory  was  opened  sleighing  parties  came 
from  all  the  neighboring  towns. 

Some  years  ago  an  old  lady,  ninety  years  of  age,  wrote,  in 
"Reminiscences  of  a  Nonagenarian,"  that  she  had  seen  row 
after  row  of  sleighs  pass  over  Crane-neck  Hill,  enlivening 
the  bright  cold  days  by  the  joyous  tones  of  their  merry  bells. 
She  describes  the  impression  made  upon  her  own  mind  the 
first  time  she  visited  the  factory :  "  Never  shall  I  forget  the 
awe  ,with  which  I  entered  what  then  appeared  the  vast  and 
imposing  edifice.  The  large  drums  that  carried  the  bands 


CLOTHING — WOOL.  l6l 

on  the  lower  floor,  coupled  with  the  novel  noise  and  hum, 
increased  this  awe,  but  when  I  reached  the  second  floor 
where  picking,  carding,  spinning,  and  weaving  were  in  proc- 
ess, my  amazement  became  complete.  The  machinery,  with 
the  exception  of  the  looms,  was  driven  by  water  power.  The 
weaving  was  by  hand.  Most  of  the  operatives  were  males, 
a  few  young  girls  being  employed  in  splicing  rolls." 

After  this  John  Scholfield  established  a  factory  in  Mont- 
ville,  Connecticut.  Subsequently  Arthur  Scholfield  removed 
to  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts,  where  he  passed  the  remainder 
of  his  life,  and  not  only  carried  on  the  woolen  manufacture 
himself,  but  also  built  carding  machines  and  set  them  up  for 
others  to  operate.  Within  the  next  twelve  years  several 
woolen  factories  had  been  built  in  Massachusetts,  New 
Hampshire,  Rhode  Island,  and  New  York. 

The  new  industry  had  become  so  firmly  established  that 
when  President  Madison  was  inaugurated,  March  4,  1809,  he 
wore  a  suit  of  black  broadcloth  of  American  manufacture. 
But  Washington  Irving  tells  us  that  Washington,  our  first 
president,  was  inaugurated  twenty  years  earlier,  dressed  in 
a  "suit  of  dark-brown  cloth  of  American  manufacture." 

From  time  to  time  the  woolen  industry  has  been  protected 
by  various  tariff  bills  passed  by  Congress.  This  industry  to- 
day is  of  gigantic  proportions.  The  woolen  factories  in  our 
country  are  now  using  about  five  hundred  million  pounds  of 
wool  per  year.  More  than  half  of  this  is  raised  in  our  own 
country,  and  nearly  all  of  the  cloth  produced  is  retained  in 
the  country  for  home  consumption. 

Let  us  see  now  if  we  can  understand  how  woolen  cloth  is 
made.  The  father  of  Dr.  Nott  had  in  those  early  days  a 
single  sheep.  Some  farmers  would  have  half  a  dozen,  others 
twenty-five  or  fifty.  Now  times  are  changed.  We  have  but 

IX 


1 62 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 


few  sheep  in  the  older  settled  country  along  the  Atlantic 
coast.  Those  who  raise  wool  to-day  are  apt  to  make  it  their 
sole  business,  doing  nothing  else.  Most  of  the  sheep  of  this 
country  are  raised  upon  the  great  plains  and  in  the  great  val- 
leys of  the  Western  country. 

Many  flocks  of  sheep,  numbering  from  five  hundred  to 
several  thousand,  may  be  seen  in  Texas,  New  Mexico,  Utah, 

and  Wyoming.  There 
are  to-day  in  Texas  more 
than  three  million 
sheep;  about  an  equal 
number  in  Wyoming; 
nearly  as  many  in  New 
Mexico,  Oregon,  Califor- 
nia, and  Ohio.  We  have 
in  our  country  at  the 
present  time  more  than 
forty  million  sheep. 

Let  us  visit  one  of 
these  sheep  ranches. 
It  is  in  the  spring  of  the 

SHEEP-SHEARING.  year.     The  warm  weath- 

er has  come.     The  sheep 

have  had  their  thick  fleeces  to  keep  them  warm  through  the 
cold  winter.  In  the  summer  these  thick,  shaggy  coats  would 
be  as  burdensome  to  them  as  a  winter  overcoat  would  be  to 
us.  The  ranchmen  round  up  the  flock,  and  taking  them 
one  by  one,  cut  off  with  a  huge  pair  of  shears  the  long  wooL 
The  wool  is  sold  to  the  dealers,  and  sent  away  to  the 
market.  It  finds  its  way  to  the  woolen  mill.  It  is  sorted, 
washed,  and  scoured.  It  is  then  carded.  The  cards 
straighten  out  the  long  fibres  of  wool  so  that  they  may  be 


CLOTHING — WOOL.  163 

readily  spun.  The  mule  or  the  spinning  jenny  spins  it  into 
yarn,  twisting  this  yarn  like  a  rope  or  thread  so  that  it  will 
be  strong  and  will  hold  together.  A  part  of  the  yarn  is  then 
arranged  upon  a  great  beam  for  the  warp.  The  warp  is  the 
threads  that  run  lengthwise  of  the  cloth.  The  rest  of  it  is 
wound  upon  little  bobbins  to  be  put  into  shuttles.  The 
shuttle  is  thrown  back  and  forth  across  the  warp,  thus  weav- 
ing in  the  filling.  This  is  done  by  means  of  what  is  called 
a  harness.  This  harness  holds  up  the  alternate  threads  of 
the  warp  and  presses  down  the  other  threads,  so  that  when 
the  shuttle  is  thrown  through  it  carries  the  thread  of  the 
filling  "  under  and  over  " ;  that  is,  under  one-half  of  the  warp 
threads  and  over  the  other  half. 

After  the  cloth  is  woven,  it  is  put  through  the  fulling 
mill,  which  beats  it  up  thick  and  firm.  After  this  come  the 
various  processes  of  finishing :  shearing  the  surface  so  as  to 
leave  it  smooth ;  brushing  it  so  as  to  set  the  nap  all  one  way 
and  give  it  a  smooth,  even,  glossy  appearance.  The  quality 
of  the  cloth  depends  upon  the  quality  of  the  wool  used,  the 
quality  of  the  machinery  which  makes  the  cloth,  and  the  skill 
of  the  workmen.  A  great  deal  of  experience  is  necessary  in 
making  first-class  goods. 

We  are  now  using  the  very  best  machinery  in  the  world 
in  the  manufacture  of  our  woolen  goods.  Possibly  in  the 
making  of  broadcloth  and  a  few  varieties  of  the  better  class 
of  goods  we  may  not  yet  be  quite  up  to  the  older  manufac- 
tories of  Europe,  but  in  cassimeres,  worsted  goods,  blankets 
and  carpets  we  are  already  able  to  compete  with  the  products 
of  the  Old  World.  Although  the  price  of  labor  in  European 
countries  is  less  than  in  America,  our  workmen  do  more 
work  in  a  day  and  our  machinery  is  of  such  improved  pat- 
terns that  we  are  generally  able  to  compete  in  price. 


CHAPTER    V. 

LEATHER. 

IN  the  colonial  days,  as  we  have  seen,  the  traveling  shoe- 
maker was  abroad  in  the  land.  He  was  accustomed  to  travel 
through  his  section  of  the  country  with  a  kit  of  tools  and  bits 
of  leather  on  his  back.  He  was  familiarly  called  "Crispin," 
from  the  patron  saint  of  his  craft,  and  ofttimes  proved  a 
"  character  "  much  appreciated  by  the  farmers  and  their  fami- 
lies. Sometimes  these  traveling  mechanics  were  quiet,  silent 
men,  doing  their  work  and  going  on  intent  only  on  obtaining 
their  living;  but  sometimes  they  were  jolly,  social  people, 
facetious,  even  witty. 

"Good  mornin',  neighbor  Heyday,"  said  a  Crispin  to  a 
farmer.  "  I  hope  you  and  the  madam  and  the  childers  are 
all  very  well,  the  day." 

"Eh,  purty  fair.  The  woman  is  ailin'  some.  She  wants 
buildin'  up,  buildin'  up." 

"Well,  well,"  said  Crispin,  "the  Lord  has  laid  His  hand 
of  blessing  heavily  upon  ye,  so  He  has  that." 

"  What  is  the  meanin'  of  that  speech?  "  said  the  farmer. 

"  Eh,  sorry  is  it  for  the  joker  when  he  has  to  explain  his 
own  joke.  Hasn't  He  filled  your  quiver  full  of  childers?  and 
isn't  that  the  greatest  blessing  the  Almighty  can  bestow  on 
man  that  is  a  sinner?  " 

"  But  I  have  only  six  childers." 

"Yes,  yes,  I  see,  but  the  eldest  counts  less  years  than  the 
clock  tell  hours ;  and  I  wish  ye  had  a  dozen  instead  of  half 


CLOTHING — LEATHER.  1 6$ 

as  many.  Are  ye  givin'  'em  all  good  healthy  under- 
standin'?" 

"  Well,  them  that's  old  enough  goes  to  school,  if  that's 
what  you  mean?  " 

"  Well,  there  it  is  again.  A  man  has  to  interpret  his  own 
wit.  I  mean,  have  they  all  good  soles  on  which  to  keep  their 
bodies  healthy?  " 

"  The  good  Lord  gives  'em  the  souls  and  their  parents 
are  responsible  only  for  the  bodies." 

"  Blunderin'  again  it  is  that  I  am.  I  mean  are  ye'r  shoes 
all  in  a  good,  healthy  condition,  so  that  the  brats  will  not 
take  cold  and  be  carried  off  by  a  stout,  lung  fever,  that  the 
doctors  call  newmony?  " 

"  Well,  they've  worn  no  shoes  all  summer  except  what 
the  Lord  gave  'em,  and  that's  the  skin  of  their  feet." 

"Well,  now,  it's  a  full  twelvemonth  since  I  was  around 
here  afore,  and  do  ye  want  me  to  make  up  their  winter  shoes 
for 'em?" 

So  the  conversation  went  on  until  they  had  struck  a  bar- 
gain, that  the  Crispin  should  board  with  the  farmer  and  make 
up  the  shoes  for  himself  and  the  children,  the  farmer  paying 
for  the  leather  and  so  much  by  the  week  for  the  man's  work. 
The  shoemaker  then  made  a  strong  pair  of  cowhide  boots  for 
the  father  of  the  family ;  a  pair  of  kid  shoes  for  the  good 
wife ;  two  pairs  of  calfskin  shoes  for  the  two  girls :  two  pairs 
of  ingrain  boots  for  the  older  boys ;  and  two  pairs  of  kid  shoes 
for  the  younger  boys.  The  silver  jingled  in  the  pocket  of 
the  Crispin  when  his  task  was  completed,  and  he  traveled 
onward  to  the  next  farm.  He  had  appropriated  to  himself 
a  certain  section  of  villages  and  country,  and  he  would  treat 
the  matter  as  a  serious  misdemeanor  should  any  other  Cris- 
pin trespass  upon  his  territory. 


1 66  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

The  Crispins  of  those  days  were  honest  and  faithful  in 
their  work.  Slow  they  were, — that  cannot  be  denied.  Even 
as  late  as  the  early  half  of  this  century  a  good  shoemaker 
has  been  known  to  labor  from  morning  till  night  through  the 
six  days  of  the  week  on  one  pair  of  fine,  sewed,  calfskin 
boots,  and  the  entire  price  which  the  customer  paid  for  them 
was  $5,  which  included  both  labor  and  material. 

What  a  contrast  from  the  ancient  method  the  present  sys- 
tem furnishes !  Not  long  since  a  wedding  was  to  occur  in 
Salem,  Massachusetts.  A  telegram  was  sent  at  ten  o'clock  in 
the  morning  to  Lynn,  ordering  a  pair  of  ladies'  slippers  made 
from  white  kid,  to  be  worn  at  the  ceremony  that  afternoon. 
The  shoes  were  cut  out  and  made  up  complete  and  for- 
warded to  Salem  by  the  two  o'clock  train. 

Miss  Sarah  E.  Wiltse  in  her  stories  for  children  tells 
how  little  Alice  was  drinking  her  cup  of  milk  one  night 
when  she  asked  her  father  to  tell  her  a  story  about  the  good 
cow,  for  her  third  finger.  She  said :  "  The  cow  does  three 
things  for  me  now.  Here  is  milk  for  my  thumb,  butter  for 
the  pointer,  cheese  for  Mr.  Tallman,  and  now  my  third  fin- 
ger, Mr.  Feebleman,  wants  something.  What  can  the  cow 
give  me  for  my  third  finger?  " 

Her  father  then  told  her  the  story  of  a  king  in  the  long, 
long  ago, — I  think  it  must  have  been  in  the  pre-historic 
times, — a  king  who  put  into  one  pile  the  things  which  he 
knew,  and  into  another  pile  the  things  which  he  did  not 
know.  Now  the  pile  which  this  foolish  king  did  not  know 
was  a  great  deal  larger  than  the  pile  of  things  which  he  did 
know.  Neither  he  nor  his  people  knew  much  about  making 
houses  or  dishes  or  even  clothes  for  themselves.  They  went 
barefooted  and  bareheaded  all  the  time.  One  day  the  king's 
horse  fell  dead  and  he  was  obliged  to  walk  a  long  distance. 


CLOTHING — LEATHER.  1 67 

The  sharp  stones  cut  his  feet,  and  the  briars  and  brambles 
pricked  them  and  tore  them.  Then  the  king  told  his  people 
to  put  down  a  carpet  for  him  to  walk  on.  So  they  all  went 
to  work  to  make  coarse  carpets  for  the  king  to  walk  upon. 

They  had  hard  work  to  make  carpets  enough  to  lay  down 
in  advance  of  the  king,  day  after  day,  as  he  traveled  across 
the  country.  At  length  one  of  his  servants  went  away  by 
himself  and  worked  all  night.  The  next  morning  he  came 
and  knelt  before  the  king  and  said : 

"  Sire,  I  have  a  carpet  for  the  whole  earth,  though  none 
but  the  king  may  walk  upon  it.  Upon  this  carpet  thou  canst 
climb  mountains  and  thy  feet  be  not  bruised;  thou  canst 
wander  in  the  valleys  and  thy  feet  never  be  torn  by  bram- 
bles ;  thou  canst  tread  the  burning  desert  and  thy  feet  remain 
unscorched." 

Then  the  king  said :  "  Bring  me  that  priceless  carpet  and 
half  my  kingdom  shall  be  thine."  The  servant  brought  to 
the  king  a  pair  of  shoes  which  he  had  made  in  the  night. 
This  was  a  new  carpet  for  the  king;  and  so  this  was  the 
fourth  good  thing  which  the  cow  gave  to  Alice ;  the  milk  she 
put  down  for  the  thumb,  the  butter  for  the  first  finger,  the 
cheese  for  the  middle  finger,  and  now  she  put  leather  for 
the  third  finger.  What  great  changes  have  taken  place  in 
the  process  of  making  boots  and  shoes  since  this  witty  ser- 
vant made  the  carpet  for  the  king's  feet! 

Let  us  trace  briefly  the  history  of  leather  and  the  evolu- 
tion of  a  pair  of  shoes.  In  the  early  colonial  days  the  skins 
of  animals  were  widely  used  for  clothing.  Caps  were  made 
for  the  men  and  boys  from  bear  skins,  wolf  skins,  and  the 
skins  of  the  catamount.  Overcoats  with  sleeves  and  hoods 
were  made  of  skins  of  wild  animals  properly  dressed,  with 
the  hair  on.  Moccasins  for  winter  service  were  from  the 


i68 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 


same  material.  Buckskin  breeches  with  fringed  edges  were 
in  common  use.  These  costumes  in  the  newly  settled  regions 
of  our  Western  country  continued  until  fifty  or  sixty  years  ago. 
In  the  winter  of  1842-43  Dr.  Marcus  Whitman  made  his 
memorable  journey  from  Oregon  across  the  country  to  the 
States.  On  a  later  occasion  he  described  the  dress  which  he 
wore  on  that  remarkable  horseback  ride.  He  said :  "  I  wore 

buckskin  breeches,  fur 
moccasins,  a  blue  duf- 
fle coat,  a  buffalo  over- 
coat with  hood,  and  a 
bearskin  cap.  Rather 
a  fantastic  garb  for  a 
missionary,  wasn't  it?  " 
Inventions  and  ma- 
chinery have  done 
much  to  improve  the 
processes  of  tanning 
leather.  Tanning  it- 

DR.  WHITMAN  STARTING  ON  HIS  JOURNEY.  Self    is    a     CUHOUS     prOC- 

ess.     It    changes    raw 

hides  into  a  condition  in  which  the  skins  are  useful  in  the 
arts  and  manufactures.  This  process  renders  the  skins 
nearly  impervious  to  water,  and  makes  them  so  tough  that 
they  can  withstand  the  ravages  of  time  and  remain  firm  and 
strong  even  for  centuries. 

It  is  said  that  specimens  of  leather  have  been  discovered 
in  China  which  are  surely  three  thousand  years  old.  They 
had  been  tanned  by  the  process  which  is  called  "  alum  tan- 
nage." When  Columbus  discovered  America  he  found,  in 
possession  of  the  Indians,  skins  that  had  been  tanned.  Their 
process  of  tanning,  too,  was  practically  the  alum  method. 


CLOTHING — LEATHER.  169 

Sir  Edwin  Arnold  found  a  pair  of  slippers  in  a  sarcophagus 
in  India,  and  nothing  else  was  present  except  a  small  heap 
of  dust.  In  the  huts  of  the  Rock  Dwellers  in  Arizona 
tanned  leather  has  been  found.  In  ancient  Babylon  they 
had  a  process  of  tanning,  and  nearly  two  thousand  years  ago 
the  Russians  and  Hungarians  were  skilled  in  the  art.  The 
ancient  Romans  knew  how  to  tan  leather  with  oil,  alum,  and 
bark. 

Most  of  the  early  tanning,  however,  was  without  bark. 
The  process  was  accomplished  with  oil,  clay,  sour  milk,  and 
smoke.  Later,  nutgalls  and  leaves  began  to  be  used.  Oak 
bark  is  the  principal  material  now  employed  throughout  the 
world  in  tanning.  Besides  the  oak  bark,  the  barks  of  hem- 
lock, pine,  birch,  and  willow  are  utilized. 

When  the  texture  of  the  skin  has  been  so  changed  by  this 
tanning  process  as  to  become  tough  and  durable,  then  the 
name  leather  is  given  to  it.  In  the  days  of  the  Crispins  six 
months  was  as  short  a  time  as  the  tanner  thought  needful  for 
the  proper  curing  of  the  hides.  The  process  was  crude,  long, 
and  laborious ;  but  the  leather,  ah !  the  leather — it  was  strong 
and  would  wear  like  iron.  Even  the  children  did  not  need 
copper  toes.  To-day  the  methods  have  changed  greatly ;  in 
no  way  more  noticeably  than  in  the  shorter  time  required. 
The  modern  process  must  be  considered  an  improvement, 
even  though  the  leather  is  not  as  strong  as  formerly. 

The  skins  of  most  animals  may  be  used  to  make  leather 
The  domestic  animals,  cows,  calves,  and  sheep,  are  first  called 
upon  to  give  their  skins  for  leather.     Glazed  kid  is  made 
from  goat  skins.     Kangaroo  leather  is  much  used  for  shoes 
Considerable  use  is  made  of  alligator  leather  for  satchels  and 
bags  and  even  for  shoes.     Skins  of  lizards,  snakes,  and  seals 
are  used ;  walrus  hides  are  tanned,  and  the  leather  used  for 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

polishing  knives  and  tools.  "  Patent  leather  "  is  made  prin- 
cipally of  cowhide,  horsehide,  and  calfskin.  Horsehide 
leather  is  very  tough  and  durable,  but  is  too  elastic  for  some 
purposes.  Harness  leather  is  made  from  steer  and  cow 
hides.  "  Russia  leather,"  formerly  made  only  in  Russia,  has 
been  a  favorite  material  for  the  choicest  kinds  of  pocket- 
books  and  satchels.  Bookbinders  prefer  it  for  binding  their 
most  costly  volumes. 

Marshall  Jewell  was  a  New  Hampshire  boy.  He  learned 
the  trade  of  tanning  and  worked  at  it  with  his  father. 
While  yet  a  young  man,  he  removed  to  Hartford,  Connecti- 
cut. There,  at  first  with  his  father  and  afterward  alone, 
he  carried  on  a  large  business  in  manufacturing  leather 
belting.  He  was  three  times  governor  of  the  State.  The 
year  after  leaving  the  governor's  chair  he  was  appointed 
Minister  to  Russia.  While  in  that  country,  through  his  inti- 
mate knowledge  of  the  methods  of  tanning,  he  discovered  the 
secret  of  the  Russian  process.  It  had  never  been  known 
before  in  our  country.  Under  his  direction  it  was  intro- 
duced here,  and  within  the  last  twenty-five  years  it  has  come 
into  very  extensive  use.  The  process  is  quite  simple.  It  is 
thus  described :  Steep  the  leather  in  a  solution  of  fifty  pounds 
each  of  oak  and  hemlock  bark  and  sumach,  one  pound  of 
willow  bark  and  nine  hundred  gallons  of  water;  heat  by 
steam,  and  immerse  the  leather  till  struck  through,  and  while 
the  material  is  still  damp  smear  on  the  outer  side  a  solution 
of  oil  of  birch  bark  dissolved  in  a  little  alcohol  and  ether. 
This  imparts  to  the  leather  its  odor  and  its  pliability. 

A  boot  or  shoe  consists  principally  of  two  parts :  the  sole, 
made  of  thick,  tough,  strong  leather,  and  the  uppers,  made 
of  a  softer,  more  pliable  leather.  By  the  old  process  the 
boot  or  the  shoe  was  made  throughout  by  a  single  person. 


CLOTHING — LEATHER.  1 7 1 

By  the  modern  process,  one  person  cuts  out  the  shoe,  another 
binds  it,  and  a  third  puts  it  upon  the  last;  still  another  man- 
ages the  machine  which  sews  the  sole  and  the  upper  together, 
a  different  person  trims  the  edges,  some  one  else  attends  to 
the  next  process  in  the  division  of  labor,  until,  it  may  be,  a 
dozen  persons  have  done  something  to  the  making  of  one 
shoe. 

The  modern  improved  machines  for  sewing"  on  the  soles 
of  shoes  are  wonderful  instruments.  Upon  one  machine  a 
good  workman  will  sew  eight  hundred  pairs  of  women's 
shoes  in  ten  hours.  A  great  part  of  the  boots  and  shoes 
worn  by  the  people  of  this  country  are  made  with  this  im- 
proved machinery  in  large  establishments  in  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  and  other  large  cities,  and  particu- 
larly in  several  towns  in  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire, 
and  Maine.  The  most  important  seat  of  this  manufacture 
is  Lynn,  Massachusetts,  but  great  quantities  of  shoes  are 
made  in  Brockton,  Haverhill,  Milford,  Marblehead,  Danvers, 
and  Worcester  in  Massachusetts,  Portland,  Auburn,  and 
Augusta  in  Maine,  and  Dover  and  Farmington,  in  New 
Hampshire. 


CHAPTER    VI. 
NEEDLES. 

IN  the  earlier  times  what  was  the  mantle  that  covered  the 
human  person?  How  was  it  made?  How  was  it  held  to- 
gether? With  what  was  the  sewing  thereof?  When  was 
thread  first  used  for  the  seam  ?  How  early  in  human  his- 
tory was  the  eye  made  for  the  needle? 

From  the  beginning  of  history  we  find  references  to  sew- 
ing, even  earlier  than  to  weaving.  We  might  naturally  sup- 
pose that  leather  was  sewed  before  cloth,  and  that  stout 
leathern  thongs  served  for  thread.  The  leather  string  for 
thread  and  the  awl  for  the  needle  must  have  been  in  use 
long,  long  ago.  The  stout  moccasin,  the  wolfskin  cap,  the 
buckskin  breeches  were  sewed  by  punching  holes  and  labo- 
riously pulling  a  leather  string  through  them.  By  and  by, 
however,  some  skillful  inventor  produced  the  needle.  Per- 
haps the  first  needles  were  made  of  bone  or  ivory.  Then 
metal  was  used. 

What  a  great  invention  was  the  eye  of  the  needle !  No 
one  knows  who  was  the  inventor,  but  we  have  reason  to  bless 
the  unknown  personage  who  first  devised  this  ingenious  ar- 
rangement. Would  you  not  like  to  see  the  needles  that  were 
in  use  hundreds  of  years  ago?  They  were  not  like  the  finely 
finished  needles  of  to-day.  Crude  and  coarse  were  they,  and 
only  adapted  to  the  crude  and  coarse  sewing  which  could 
then  be  performed.  To-day  the  needle- woman  is  often  an 


CLOTHING — NEEDLES. 


173 


artist.  Embroidery  is  done  with  the  needle.  The  plain 
seam,  the  hem,  the  gather,  the  back  stitch,  are  simply  so  many 
forms  of  the  work  of  an  artist. 

Century  after  century  our  needle-makers  have  been  im- 
proving in  the  manufacture  of  this  simple  but  effective  little 
machine.  In  the  compli- 
cated civilization  of  the  pres- 
ent time  we  have  an  almost 
infinite  variety  of  needles: 
the  ordinary  sewing  needle 
for  the  making  of  garments ; 
smaller  needles  for  lace  work, 
the  hemming  of  delicate 
handkerchiefs  and  the  seam 
of  fine  silk  goods ;  and  coarse 
and  heavy  needles  for  carpet 
sewing,  bagging,  and  leather 
work. 

All  this  relates  to  sewing 
by  hand,  with  a  single  needle 
and  one  thread.  It  is  stitch 

by  stich,  first  one,  then  another;  it  is  like  the  brook, — "it 
goes  on  forever."  It  is  like  the  clock  that  repeats  its  tick 
tock,  tick  tock  by  the  hour,  by  the  day,  by  the  week,  by  the 
year.  Perhaps  many  seamstresses  would  not  recognize  the 
duty  of  blessing  the  man  who  invented  the  needle.  The 
poet  Hood  has  told  this  side  of  the  story  in  his  famous  poem, 
"  The  Song  of  the  Shirt." 

"  With  fingers  weary  and  worn. 
With  eyelids  heavy  and  red, 
A  woman  sits  in  unwomanly  rags, 
Plying  her  needle  and  thread — 


SEWING  BY  HAND. 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

Stitch!     Stitch!     Stitch! 

In  poverty,  hunger,  and  dirt. 

Work!    Work!    Work! 

While  the  cock  is  crowing  aloof  I 

And  work — work — work, 

Till  the  stars  shine  through  the  roof  1 


Band  and  gusset  and  seam, 
Seam  and  gusset  and  band, 
Till  the  heart  is  sick, 
And  the  brain  benumbed 
As  well  as  the  weary  hand." 

Indeed,  the  time  had  come  long  ago  when  some  ingenious 
device  was  needed  by  which  the  seamstress  could  sew  with 
less  wear  and  tear  of  nerve  and  muscle.  (Efforts  were  made 
in  England  for  machine  sewing  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago,  but  they  were  not  successful.  A  sewing  machine 
was  invented  by  Thomas  Saint  about  one  hundred  years  ago 
which  had  some  of  the  features  of  the  sewing  machine  of 
to-day. 

It  was  left,  however,  for  American  inventors  to  produce 
machines  that  would  do  the  work  easily  and  successfully ;  the 
machines  themselves  had  such  simplicity  and  were  so  nicely 
adapted  that  they  were  not  likely  to  get  out  of  repair  but 
would  remain  serviceable  during  a  long  period  of  years. 
Sewing  machines  in  large  numbers  were  invented  during  the 
period  from  1830  to  1860. 

As  early  as  1818  a  sewing  machine  was  invented  by  Rev. 
John  Adams  Dodge,  of  Vermont.  He  used  a  needle  pointed 
at  each  end  with  the  eye  in  the  middle.  This  machine  would 
make  a  good  backstitch  and  sew  a  seam  straight  forward.  It 


CLOTHING — NEEDLES.  175 

was  not  patented  and  did  not  get  into  use  to  any  considerable 
extent.  In  1832  Walter  Hunt,  of  New  York,  brought  out  a 
machine  which  used  two  threads,  one  being  carried  by  a 
shuttle  and  the  other  by  a  curved  needle  with  the  eye  in  the 
point.  This  machine  also  was  not  patented. 

Ten  years  later,  J.  J.  Greenough  patented  a  machine  for 
sewing  leather  and  other  heavy  material,  but  this  also  did 
not  acquire  any  extended  use.  About  the  same  time  George 
H.  Corliss  invented  a  strong,  heavy  machine  for  sewing 
leather,  using  two  needles  with  the  eyes  near  the  points ;  this 
machine  was  evidently  an  improvement  on  previous  at- 
tempts. Mr.  Corliss  soon  turned  his  attention  to  improve- 
ments of  the  steam  engine  and  did  not  continue  his  efforts  to 
perfect  his  sewing  machine. 

Hence  it  was  that  the  first  really  successful  sewing  ma- 
chine was  that  of  Elias  Howe,  patented  in  1846.  The  first 
form  of  Howe's  machine  was  far  from  satisfactory,  but  it  was 
an  improvement  on  all  previous  machines.  Howe  could  not 
induce  the  people  to  appreciate  the  value  of  his  invention,  and 
he  went  to  England  and  there  secured  patents.  But  in  Eng- 
land also  he  became  discouraged,  and  sold  out  his  rights 
for  that  country  and  returned  home. 

Meantime  others  had  pirated  his  invention  and  were  mak- 
ing his  machines  and  placing  them  upon  the  market.  Howe 
immediately  asserted  his  rights  and,  after  a  series  of  suits  in 
court,  he  succeeded  in  establishing  them,  so  that  finally  his 
machine  came  into  extended  use  and  its  inventor  reaped  a 
large  pecuniary  reward  from  his  genius  and  skill.  Improve- 
ments now  came  forward  rapidly.  Patents  were  soon  issued 
to  Allen  B.  Wilson  of  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts,  Isaac  M. 
Singer  of  New  York,  and  William  O.  Grover  of  Boston. 
Later,  the  Weed,  the  Florence,  the  Wilcox  &  Gibbs.  the 


176  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

Remington,  Domestic,  American,  Household,  and  many  oth- 
ers were  added  to  the  list  of  successful  machines. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  describe  the  difference  in  these  ma- 
chines and  the  various  ways  in  which  the  stitch  is  made. 
Some  of  them  make  the  lock  stitch,  others  the  double  loop 
stitch,  and  still  others  the  single  chain  stitch.  The  best 
machines  make  also  a  special  buttonhole  stitch  and  have  par- 
ticular devices  by  which  they  gather  and  ruffle,  tuck,  hem, 
bind,  and  whatever  else  is  required  to  be  done  with  thread. 

One  machine  or  another  can  be  used  for  almost  any  kind 
of  sewing.  With  them  we  sew  shoes  and  boots,  heavy 
woolen  goods  like  beaver,  several  thicknesses  of  duck,  or, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  very  finest  and  nicest  muslin.  Sew- 
ing machines  are  used  in  the  making  of  gloves,  pocketbooks, 
traveling  bags,  and  other  articles  of  this  character.  Special 
machines  sew  seams  on  water  hose,  leather  buckets,  bootlegs, 
and  other  articles  which  require  the  seam  to  be  made  in  a 
circle. 

No  other  country  has  so  many  factories  or  such  large  ones 
for  making  sewing  machines  as  the  United  States.  The 
establishments  which  manufacture  sewing  machines  have  a 
combined  capital  of  more  than  twenty  million  dollars,  and 
the  value  of  their  annual  product  aggregates  about  fifteen 
million  dollars.  Meanwhile  the  price  of  sewing  machines 
has  diminished  so  that  they  are  now  sold  for  less  than  one- 
half,  and  sometimes  as  low  as  one-fourth,  of  the  original 
price. 

In  1830  a  Frenchman,  Marthelemy  Thimonier,  con- 
structed of  wood  eighty  machines  which  made  a  chain  stitch 
of  great  strength.  These  were  used  for  making  clothing  for 
the  French  army.  Laborers  were  so  incensed  at  this  inven- 
tion, which  they  thought  was  contrary  to  their  interests,  that 


CLOTHING — NEEDLES.  1 77 

they  raised  a  riot  and  destroyed  all  of  the  machines.  A  few 
years  later  this  inventor  made  other  machines  constructed  of 
metal,  and  these  were  also  destroyed  by  a  mob. 

Many  times  it  has  happened  that  laborers  have  supposed 
that  they  would  be  great  losers  from  the  invention  of  labor- 
saving  machines.  Instead  of  this  proving  to  be  true,  it  would 
seem  that  laborers  are  benefited  by  the  inventions.  There 
is  much  evidence  showing  that  while  inventions  greatly  di- 
minish the  amount  of  labor  necessary  to  accomplish  a  certain 
result,  on  the  other  hand  they  open  up  new  lines  of  industry 
which  fully  compensate  laborers  for  the  loss  which  would 
otherwise  fall  upon  them.  It  is  to  be  noted  also  that,  in  our 
country  at  least,  the  wages  of  laborers  have  increased  in  the 
period  during  which  labor-saving  machines  have  been  in- 
vented. 

The  modern  sewing  machine  is  an  inestimable  blessing 
to  a  family.  In  former  days,  the  mother  of  half  a  dozen  chil- 
dren would  be  obliged  to  ply  the  needle  night  after  night 
until  the  small  hours  in  order  to  keep  her  little  ones  prop- 
erly clad.  Now,  with  the  little  iron  machine  standing  upon 
its  small  table  on  one  side  of  the  room,  the  good  mother  can 
make  up  the  necessary  garments  for  her  children  in  quick 
time,  leaving  her  far  more  hours  for  sleep,  recreation,  and 
Social  life  than  would  be  possible  under  the  old  method. 
Many  a  one  can  now  call  down  blessings  not  only  upon  "  the 
man  who  invented  sleep,"  but  upon  the  man  who  invented 
the  sewing  machine  which 'gives  one  time  to  sleep. 

12 


CHAPTER    VII. 


THE  STEAM  ENGINE. 

AT  the  very  summit  of  a  mountain  near  Pasadena,  Cali- 
fornia, stands  a  huge  windmill,  which  may  be  seen  for  many 
miles  in  all  directions.  Here  the  wind  blows  almost  con- 
stantly, and  the  great  arms  of  the  windmill  are  employed  to 

lift  water  from  a  well  in 
the  valley  below  to  irri- 
gate the  orange  groves 
on  the  hillsides.  Thus 
the  wind  has  been  har- 
nessed by  man  to  serve 
his  purpose. 

Nature  has  not  only 
furnished  wind  for  a 
motive  force,  but  it  has 
also  provided  man  with 
water  power.  The 

AN  OLD  WINDMILL.  water  wheel,  with  its  ac- 

companying dam  across 

the  stream,  has  been  in  general  use  from  the  time  of  the 
earliest  settlements.  The  weight  of  the  water  turned  a 
wheel,  thus  developing  a  force  which  was  employed  for 
sawing  lumber  or  grinding  grain.  When  cotton  and  woolen 
manufactories  were  first  introduced,  water  power  was  almost 
universally  used. 

After  wind  and  water  came  steam.     A  very  simple  steam 


CLOTHING THE   STEAM    ENGINE.  179 

engine  was  devised  by  Hero  more  than  two  thousand  years 
ago,  but  it  was  of  little  practical  value  and  was  soon  forgot- 
ten, sj^ot  until  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  was 
a  machine  invented  which  could  successfully  produce  motion 
by  steam.  This  engine,  made  by  an  Englishman  named 
Newcomen,  was  very  wasteful  and  was  used  only  to  pump 
water  from  mines. 

Less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  a  young  Scotch  • 
man  named  James  Watt  set  himself  to  the  task  of  improving 
the  Newcomen  engine  and  of  making  a  steam  engine  that 
would  furnish  power  for  different  purposes.  He  devoted  his 
whole  thought  to  his  work,  and  after  twenty  years  of  study 
he  succeeded.  The  Watt  steam  engine  is  the  basis  of  all 
engines  to-day.  James  Watt  did  not  discover  steam  power, 
but  he  made  the  steam  engine  of  real  value. 

Many  of  the  first  engines  used  in  this  country  for  manu- 
facturing purposes  were  made  by  Boulton  and  Watt  in  Bir- 
mingham. The  first  steam  engines  made  in  America  were 
rough  and  crude,  but  the  improvement  in  their  construction 
was  rapid.  At  the  present  time  engines  of  the  finest  con- 
struction, with  the  latest  improvements  and  adapted  to  all 
kinds  of  work,  are  made  in  many  establishments  all  over  our 
land.  Engines  are  made  for  marine  purposes — steamboats, 
yachts,  and  war- vessels, — stationary  engines  for  all  sorts  of 
manufactures,  and  locomotives  for  the  railroads.  Perhaps 
the  greatest  improvements  in  the  manufacture  of  steam  en- 
gines have  been  the  result  of  the  talent  and  genius  of  George 
H.  Corliss. 

In  1825,  when  George  was  only  eight  years  of  age,  his 
father  moved  to  Greenwich,  New  York,  where  the  boy  grew 
up  to  manhood.  Here  he  went  to  school,  was  clerk  in  a 
country  store,  and  was  employed  in  the  first  cotton  factory 


180  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

built  in  that  State.  Little  did  the  people  of  that  country 
village  think  that  this  quiet  boy  had  in  him  such  wonderful 
mechanical  genius  as  he  afterward  displayed. 

His  father's  house  was  situated  near  the  bank  of  a  small 
stream  which  was  much  swollen  every  springtime  by  the 
freshets  from  the  melting  snows  above.  A  bridge  which 
spanned  this  stream  was  carried  away  one  year  by  the  fresh- 
ets. Young  Corliss,  then  twenty-one  years  of  age,  proposed 
to  build  a  cantilever  bridge.  Everybody  said  that  the  scheme 
was  impossible;  he  could  not  do  it,  it  would  be  a  failure. 
Nevertheless  he  succeeded,  and  the  bridge  was  built.  It 
proved  entirely  successful.  It  withstood  the  freshets  and 
was  in  service,  scarcely  needing  repairs,  for  many  years. 

He  went  to  Providence  when  he  was  twenty-seven  years 
of  age,  and  before  he  was  thirty  he  had  established  himself 
as  the  head  of  the  firm  of  "  Corliss,  Nightingale  and  Company," 
for  the  manufacture  of  steam  engines.  He  was  but  a  little 
over  thirty  years  old  when  he  patented  his  great  improve- 
ments, applied  to  the  steam  engine.  These  improvements 
were  such  as  to  produce  uniformity  of  motion  and  to  prevent 
the  loss  of  steam.  By  connecting  the  valve  with  an  ingen- 
ious cut-off,  which  he  invented,  he  made  the  engine  work 
with  such  uniformity  that,  if  all  but  one  of  a  hundred  looms 
in  a  factory  were  suddenly  stopped,  that  one  would  go  on 
working  at  the  same  rate  of  speed  as  before. 

The  improvements  which  Mr.  Corliss  effected  at  once  rev- 
olutionized the  construction  of  the  steam  engine.  He  im- 
mediately began  the  erection  of  immense  buildings  for  his 
machine  shops,  where  now  are  employed  more  than  a  thou- 
sand men.  In  1856  the  "Corliss  Steam  Engine  Company" 
was  incorporated,  and  Mr.  Corliss,  purchasing  the  interest 
of  his  partners,  soon  owned  all  the  stock  of  this  company  and 


CLOTHING — THE   STEAM    ENGINE. 


was  both  president  and  treasurer.  During  a  long  period  of 
more  than  forty  years  Mr.  Corliss,  who  was  a  large-hearted, 
benevolent  man  interested  in  public  affairs  relating  to  city, 
State,  and  nation,  devoted  himself  with  great  industry  to  the 
development  of  his  in- 
ventions. 

Perhaps  the  most 
conspicuous  work  which 
more  than  anything  else 
carried  his  name  to  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth 
was  the  construction  of 
the  great  engine  which 
furnished  the  motive 
power  for  all  the  ma- 
chinery in  operation  in 
Machinery  Hall,  at  the 
Centennial  Exhibition 


in  Philadelphia  in  1876. 
Of  this  engine  M.  Bar- 
tholdi,  in  his  report  to 

the  French  Government,  said :  "  It  belonged  to  the  category 
of  works  of  art  by  the  general  beauty  of  its  effect  and  its  per- 
fect balance  to  the  eye."  Professor  Radinger,  of  the  Poly- 
technic  School  in  Vienna,  pronounced  the  engine  one  of  the 
greatest  works  of  the  day. 

This  engine  stood  in  the  center  of  Machinery  Hall  upon 
a  platform  56  feet  in  diameter.  The  two  working  beams 
were  40  feet  above  the  platform,  and  were  seen  from  all 
parts  of  the  building,  being  the  most  conspicuous  objects  in 
the  hall.  The  fly-wheel  was  30  feet  in  diameter  with  a  face 
of  24  inches. 


CORLISS  ENGINE. 


1 82  AMERICAN    INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

This  engine  carried  eight  main  lines  of  shafting,  each  line 
being  650  feet  in  length,  and  the  larger  part  of  this  shafting 
was  speeded  to  120  revolutions  a  minute,  while  one  line,  used 
principally  for  wood-working  machines,  made  240  revolutions 
per  minute.  The  engine  weighed  7,000  tons,  and  its  power 
was  equivalent  to  1,400  horse-power.  The  entire  cost,  about 
$200,000,  was  borne  by  Mr.  Corliss.  The  engine  is  now  in 
active  service,  furnishing  the  motive  power  for  the  entire 
works  of  the  Pullman  Car  Company. 

During  the  later  years  of  Mr.  Corliss's  life  he  devoted 
much  time  and  thought  to  inventing  improved  pumps  to  be 
used  in  connection  with  city  waterworks,  "  for  forcing  water 
to  higher  levels."  He  made  for  the  city  of  Providence  a  ro- 
tary pump  for  high  service  which  worked  automatically,  keep- 
ing the  pipes  in  the  upper  sections  of  the  city  full  at  all  times 
whether  much  or  little  water  was  used.  This  ingenious 
pump  was  visited  by  mechanics  from  all  parts  of  the  world. 
Only  a  few  years  before  his  death  Mr.  Corliss  built  another 
pump,  an  account  of  which  was  published  some  years  ago. 
This  account  included  the  following  incident: 

"  I  went  down  to  Pettaconsett,  the  other  day,  to  see  the 
foundations  of  the  building  that  Mr.  Corliss  is  putting  up 
there  for  the  new  pumping  engine  which  he  has  engaged  to 
put  in  for  this  city.  I  found  that,  in  digging  for  the  founda- 
tions, they  came  upon  a  deep  bed  of  quicksand.  Mr.  Corliss, 
ever  fertile  in  expedients  to  overcome  obstacles,  instead  of 
driving  down  wooden  piles,  sunk  in  this  quicksand  great 
quantities  of  large  cobblestones.  These  were  driven  down 
into  the  sand  with  tremendous  force  by  a  huge  iron  ball 
weighing  four  thousand  pounds.  I  said :  '  Mr.  Corliss,  why 
did  not  you  drive  wooden  piles  on  which  to  build  your  foun- 
dation?' 


CLOTHING THE   STEAM    ENGINE.  183 

"'  Don't  you  see,'  said  he,  'that  the  piles  have  no  discre- 
tion, and  that  the  cobblestones  have?  ' 

"'I  don't  think  I  understand  you,  Mr.  Corliss,'  was  my 
reply. 

"'If  you  drive  a  pile,'  said  he,  '  it  goes  where  you  drive  it, 
and  nowhere  else;  but  a  cobblestone  will  seek  the  softest  place 
and  go  where  it  is  most  needed.  It  therefore  has  discretion, 
and  better  answers  the  purpose.' 

"  I  went  away  musing  that  the  wooden  '  piles  '  and  the 
'  cobblestones  '  represent  two  classes  of  boys.  '  The  piles, ' 
said  Mr.  Corliss,  *  have  no  discretion,  and  go  only  where  they 
are  driven.'  I  think  I  have  seen  boys  who  represented  this 
quality.  '  But  the  cobblestones  go  where  they  are  the  most 
needed. '  When  boys  fit  themselves  to  go  where  they  are  the 
most  needed,  they  will  be  pretty  likely  to  meet  with  tolerably 
good  success  in  life." 

The  great  service  Mr.  Corliss  has  rendered  to  the  world 
through  his  inventions  is  shown  by  the  awards  made  to  him 
from  the  highest  scientific  authorities.  At  the  Paris  Exposi- 
tion (1867)  he  received  the  highest  competitive  prize  in  com- 
petition with  more  than  a  hundred  engines.  A  great  Eng- 
lish engineer,  one  of  the  British  commissioners  at  the 
Exposition,  said:  "The  American  engine  of  Mr.  Corliss 
everywhere  tells  of  wise  forethought,  judicious  proportion, 
sound  execution,  and  exquisite  contrivance." 

The  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences  in  1870 
awarded  to  Mr.  Corliss  the  Rumford  Medal.  This  medal 
was  presented  by  Dr.  Asa  Gray,  who  said :  "  No  invention 
since  Watt's  time  has  so  enhanced  the  efficiency  of  the  steam 
engine  as  this." 

At  the  Vienna  Exhibition  in  1873  Mr.  Corliss  sent  nei- 
ther engine  nor  machinery,  nor  had  he  any  one  there  to  rep- 


1 84  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

resent  him ;  but  the  grand  diploma  of  honor  was  awarded  to 
him.  This  was  done  because  foreign  builders  had  sent  their 
engines,  which  they  themselves  claimed  were  built  on  his 
system,  and  they  had  placed  his  name  on  their  productions. 

The  steam  engine  to-day  is  of  vastly  greater  importance 
than  it  has  ever  been  before,  especially  in  its  use  for  furnish- 
ing the  motive  power  for  cotton  and  woolen  factories,  and  for 
all  kinds  of  manufacturing  establishments.  What  should  we 
do  to-day  without  the  steam  engine?  Long  before  the  begin- 
ning of  this  century  Erasmus  Darwin  sang  as  follows : 

"  Soon  shall  thy  arm,  tmconquered  steam !  afar 
Drag  the  slow  barge,  or  drive  the  rapid  car." 

All  this  has  long  been  fulfilled.  How  long  will  it  be  before 
his  next  two  lines  will  also  prove  a  reality? 

"  Or  on  wide-waving  wings  expanded  bear 
The  flying  chariot  through  the  field  of  air." 


ROBERT  FULTON. 


SECTION  V.-TRAVEL. 


§  IS 

H     x  ~ 
U      5*  5 

°    "5  ^ 

5 1! 

*"  ?*J 
^3  ~ 
~  R 


•<  "e 

Pi 


SECTION  V.—TRAVEL. 

CHAPTER    I. 
BY   LAND. 

"WELL,  Charles,  how  do  you  purpose  to  go  to  the  city 
to-day?  The  paper  this  morning  contains  some  news  that 
ought  to  interest  you.  There  was  a  washout  at  Turk's 
Bridge  last  evening,  and  it  will  be  several  hours  yet  before 
trains  can  run." 

This  question  was  asked  by  Mrs.  Barlow,  one  morning 
during  the  great  street-car  strike  when  the  motormen  and 
conductors  had  refused  to  run  cars  until  their  demands  were 
granted. 

"I  see  but  one  way  left  open  for  me,"  replied  her  hus- 
band. "  The  roads  must  be  very  muddy,  and  I  cannot  go  on 
my  bicycle.  I  suppose  that  I  shall  be  compelled  to  walk. 
That  was  the  original  mode  of  traveling,  and  I  imagine  that 
in  this  case  of  necessity  I  can  try  it  again.  I  am  not  used  to 
so  long  a  walk,  but  I  see  no  other  way.  In  one  respect  I  am 
better  off  than  my  ancestors  were,  for  I  have  good  level  side- 
walks, most  of  them  paved,  instead  of  rough  paths,  partly 
trodden  down.  I  will  start  to  walk,  anyway." 

Mr.  Barlow  did  not  own  a  horse,  and  could  not  drive  to 
the  city.  He  did  not  feel  able  to  hire  a  public  carriage,  as, 
since  the  street-car  strike  began,  so  maijy  desired  to  ride  that 
the  drivers  charged  very  high  prices.  Blite  felt  that  he  must 


1 88  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

attend  to  his  business  in  the  city  that  day,  and  immediately 
after  breakfast  he  started  on  his  five-mile  walk.  He  was 
very  tired  before  he  reached  the  office,  and  the  walk  home 
in  the  afternoon  wearied  him  still  more.  He  was  therefore 
greatly  pleased  the  next  morning  to  find  that  the  strike  was 
over,  the  railroad  bridge  repaired,  the  muddy  roads  nearly 
dry,  and  a  choice  open  to  him  to  travel  either  by  steam  cars, 
electric  street  cars,  or  bicycle. 

Mr.  Barlow  learned  an  interesting  lesson  by  this  one  day's 
experience.  He  obtained  something  of  an  idea  of  the  life  of 
his  ancestors,  who  were  compelled  to  walk  whenever  they 
had  business  to  transact.  He  realized  more  than  ever  be- 
fore what  improvements  had  been  made  in  the  last  three  cen- 
turies in  the  means  for  travel.  His  thoughts  were  turned 
directly  to  these  changes,  and  for  several  weeks  he  studied 
histories  and  scientific  works  to  learn  the  ways  in  which  these 
improvements  came  about.  Let  us  note  some  of  the  results 
of  his  study. 

Nearly  three  hundred  years  ago,  Captain  Newport,  with 
a  few  small  vessels,  sailed  up  the  James  River,  in  Virginia. 
After  some  weeks  the  fleet  returned  to  England,  leaving 
about  one  hundred  men,  the  colonists  of  Jamestown,  the  first 
permanent  English  settlement  in  America.  Here  was  a  little 
village,  with  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  thousands  of  miles  wide, 
separating  the  colonists  from  all  their  friends  and  acquaint- 
ances. The  great  forest  which  covered  the  entire  Atlantic 
coast  contained  now  this  clearing  on  the  banks  of  the  James 
River.  North  of  the  settlement  dense  woods  extended  in 
every  direction;  no  white  men  lived  nearer  than  the  French 
colonies  of  Quebec  and  Nova  Scotia.  To  the  south  also 
spread  the  forest ;  the  nearest  European  settlement  was  the 
Spanish  colony  of  gaint  Augustine.  Westward  for  hundreds 


TRAVEL — BY    LAND.  189 

and  thousands  of  miles  the  almost  uninhabited  wilderness 
extended  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  the  very  existence  of  which 
was  scarcely  suspected  by  white  men.  Thus  was  the  James- 
town colony  almost  entirely  shut  off  from  the  world  of  civ- 
ilization, a  feeble  band  of  Europeans  surrounded  by  savage 
red  men. 

What  interest  had  these  colonists  in  travel?  .Tossed  on 
the  ocean  as  they  had  been  for  many  weeks,  worn  with  sea- 
sickness and  lack  of  nourishing  food,  few  had  any  desire  to 
see  more  of  the  world.  Besides,  if  they  had  wished  to  travel, 
where  could  they  have  gone?  Roads  through  the  forests 
were  unknown;  rivers  were  spanned  by  no  bridges;  swamps 
and  marshes  extended  in  every  direction.  The  most  remote 
houses  were  at  easy  walking  distance.  The  little  church 
was  not  far  even  from  the  last  house  in  the  village.  If  need 
for  firewood  or  lumber  led  any  one  into  the  forest,  he  must 
go  afoot.  If  any  necessity  arose  for  communication  with 
the  Indians,  the  journey  must  be  made  on  foot.  Thus  we 
see  that  in  the  early  days  of  Virginia  what  travel  there  was 
by  land  was  limited  to  walking. 

Thirteen  years  after  the  building  of  Jamestown  a  second 
English  colony  was  planted  in  America.  Another  band  of  a 
hundred  persons  began  a  settlement  at  Plymouth  in  New 
England.  The  colony  of  Virginia  had  become  well  estab- 
lished by  this  time,  yet  it  could  be  of  but  little  help  to  Plym- 
outh. Many  hundred  miles  distant,  it  seemed  hardly  nearer 
than  old  England  itself.  The  Pilgrims'  at  Plymouth  lived 
by  themselves,,  as  had  the  Virginia  colonists,  and  for  some 
years  what  travel  they  had  was  also  on  foot. 

Time  passed  on  in  both  colonies.  New  settlers  came  over 
the  ocean  to  Virginia,  and  other  villages  were  built  at  some 
distance  from  Jamestown.  Thus  arose  reasons  for  journeys 


190  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

— desire  to  see  friends  in  other  villages — necessities  of  trade 
or  commerce  between  the  settlements.  At  first,  of  course, 
as  travel  by  foot  within  a  village  was  common,  so  journeys 
between  villages  were  made  in  the  same  way. 

An  easier  means  of  communication  was  provided  when 
horses  were  brought  over  from  England.  These  came  in 
small  numbers  at  first;  there  were  but  six  horses  in  Virginia 
when  the  settlers  had  been  there  nine  years.  Thousands  of 
years  ago  wild  horses  ranged  in  great  numbers  over  the 
whole  continent  of  America.  But,  for  some  reason  or  other, 
these  had  all  perished,  and  when  Columbus  discovered  the 
new  world  the  red  men  were  wholly  unacquainted  with  these 
animals  or  their  use.  Therefore,  when  the  white  settlers  in 
America  desired  horses  they  found  it  necessary  to  bring  them 
in  vessels  from  Europe. 

To  the  first  and  most  common  mode  of  travel,  by  foot, 
was  thus  added  the  second  method,  namely,  on  horseback. 
In  the  old  world  this  use  of  horses  had  existed  for  thousands 
of  years.  In  fact,  three  hundred  and  four  hundred  years 
ago,  at  the  time  of  the  discovery  and  settlement  of  America, 
it  was  almost  the  universal  means  for  land  travel.  It  was 
natural  then  that  it  should  be  the  first  form  taken  up  in 
America.  Besides,  the  making  of  a  bridle  path  through  the 
woods,  that  is,  a  path  wide  enough  for  a  man  on  horseback, 
was  a  comparatively  simple  matter.  To  build  a  carriage 
road  would  have  been  a  much  more  difficult  task. 

In  New  England,  as  well  as  in  Virginia,  the  population 
rapidly  increased.  The  Plymouth  colonists  began  to  build 
other  villages.  A  new  colony  was  founded  on  the  coast  of 
Massachusetts  Bay,  but  thirty  miles  from  Plymouth.  Here 
were  established  the  towns  of  Salem,  Charlestown,  Rox- 
bury,  Dorchester,  Newtown,  and  Boston.  Other  towns  were 


TRAVEL — BY    LAND. 


soon   built  and   clearings   were    made    in    every   direction. 
Travel  by  horseback  became  common  among  those  who  could 
afford      to      keep      horses. 
Those  who  were    too  poor 
must  still  travel  on  foot. 

Most  of  the  traveling  was 
done  by  men.  We  read  that 
Queen  Elizabeth  was  an  ac- 
complished horsewoman ; 
but  as  a  rule  few  women 
were  accustomed  to  hold 
the  reins,  and  few  side-sad- 
dles  were  in  use.  (The 
horses  of  those  days  were 
very  strong.  They  were 
trained  to  carry  heavy  bur- 
dens on  their  backs  rather 
than  to  draw  loaded  wagons. 
They  frequently  carried 
more  than  one  person;  it 
was  not  unusual  to  see  a 
man  riding  horseback,  and 
behind  him  his  wife,  sitting 

sideways  and  holding  on  to  her  husband  to  keep  from  slip- 
ping off.  For  her  comfort  a  pillion  was  used,  which  was  a 
pad  or  cushion  fastened  to  the  saddle. 

Not  only  was  Massachusetts  Bay  rapidly  settled,  but  vil- 
lages were  built  fifty  and  even  a  hundred  miles  from  Bos- 
ton. Providence,  Newport,  and  Portsmouth  were  founded, 
forming  the  colony  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Planta- 
tions. Hartford,  Wethersfield,  and  Windsor  were  estab- 
lished on  the  Connecticut.  Dover  and  Portsmouth  in  New 


A      MAN      AND      HIS     WIFE     TRAVELING      ON 
HORSEBACK. 


AMERICAN    INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

Hampshire,  New  Haven  and  Saybrook  in  Connecticut  were 
built,  and  the  village  of  Agawam,  now  Springfield,  was 
founded. 

All  of   these    new  settlements  needed  some   connection 
with  Boston,  or  the  Old  Bay  Colony  as  it  was  called.     The 
roads  were  mere  paths,  however,  and  over  them  carriages 
could  not  have  passed,  if  there  had  been  any.     In  a  story 
written  by  J.  G.  Holland,  called  "Bay-Path,"  he  described 
life  in  Agawam  more  than  two  and  a  half  centuries  ago,  and_, 
his  description  of  the  roads  and  travel  in  those  days  is  well  ' 
worth  reading. 

"The  principal  communication  with  the  Eastern  settle- 
ment was  by  a  path  marked  by  trees  a  portion  of  the  dis- 
tance, and  by  slight  clearings  of  brush  and  thicket  for  the 
remainder.  No  stream  was  bridged,  no  hill  graded,  and  no 
marsh  drained.  The  path  led  through  woods  which  bore  the 
marks  of  centuries,  and  along  the  banks  of  streams  that  the 
seine  had  never  dragged.  The  path  was  known  as  '  the 
Bay-Path,'  or  the  path  to  the  bay. 

"  It  was  wonderful  what  a  powerful  interest  was  attached 
to  the  Bay-Path.  It  was  the  channel  through  which  laws 
were  communicated,  through  which  flowed  news  from  distant 
friends,  and  through  which  came  long,  loving  letters  and 
messages.  That  rough  thread  of  soil,  chopped  by  the  blades 
of  a  hundred  streams,  was  a  bond  that  radiated  at  each  ter- 
minus into  a  thousand  fibers  of  love  and  interest  and  hope 
and  memory. 

"  The  Bay-Path  was  charmed  ground — a  precious  passage 
— and  during  the  spring,  the  summer,  and  the  early  autumn 
hardly  a  settler  at  Agawam  went  out  of  doors  or  changed  his 
position  in  the  fields,  or  looked  up  from  his  labor,  or  rested 
his  oars  upon  the  bosom  of  the  river,  without  turning  his 


TRAVEL — BY    LAND. 


193 


eyes  to  the  point  at  which  that  path  opened  from  the  brow 
of  the  wooded  hill  upon  the  East.  And  when  some  worn 
and  wearied  man  came  in  sight  upon  his  half-starved  horse, 
or  two  or  three  pedestrians,  bending  beneath  their  packs  and 
swinging  their  sturdy  staves,  were  seen  approaching,  the 
village  was  astir 
from  one  end  to  the 
other. 

"  The      Bay-Path 
became  better 

marked  from  year  to 
year  as  settlements 
began  to  string  them- 
selves upon  it  as 
upon  a  thread. 
Every  year  the  foot- 
steps of  those  who 
trod  it  hurried  more 
and  more  until,  at  THE  BAY-PATH. 

^ast,    wheels     began 

to  be  heard  upon  it — heavy  carts  creaking  with  merchandise. 
A  century  passed  away  and  the  wilderness  had  retired. 
There  was  a  constant  roll  along  the  Bay- Path.'  The  finest  of 
the  wheat  and  the  fattest  of  the  flocks  and  herds  were  trans- 
ported to  the  Bay,  whose  young  commerce  had  already  begun 
to  whiten  the  coast. 

"  The  dreamy  years  passed  by,  and  then  came  the  furious 
stagecoach,  traveling  night  and  day — splashing  the  mud, 
brushing  up  the  dust,  dashing  up  to  inns,  and  carving  more 
slowly  up  to  post-offices.  The  journey  was  reduced  to  a  day, 
And  then — miracle  of  miracles — came  the  railway  and  the 
locomotive.  The  journey  of  a  day  is  reduced  to  three  hours.*' 
13 


CHAPTER    II.  u- 

BY  WATER. 

WHEN  the  Virginia  colonists  reached  the  shores  of  Amer- 
ica, they  sailed  up  the  James  River  until  they  found  a  penin- 
sula extending  into  the  river  and  there  they  built  James- 
town. When  the  Pilgrims  completed  their  explorations  of 
the  shores  of  Cape  Cod  Bay,  they  chose  the  harbor  of  Plym- 
outh as  the  best  situation  for  their  colony.  Lord  Baltimore 
established  the  Maryland  colony  at  St.  Mary's  on  an  arm  of 
the  Chesapeake  Bay.  The  Dutch  founded  New  Amsterdam 
on  the  island  of  Manhattan,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson 
River.  The  first  settlements  in  each  of  the  colonies  were 
made  on  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  or  but  a  few  miles 
up  large  rivers.  Why?  The  colonists  had  come  to  this  new 
world  in  European  vessels  which  could  only  bring  them  to 
the  shore.  Here  they  chose  the  most  convenient  place  and 
built  their  town. 

Thus  these  settlers  were  in  the  very  beginning  familiar 
with  travel  by  water.  But  what  a  poor,  inconvenient  means 
of  travel  it  was !  The  Jamestown  colonists,  one  hundred  and 
five  in  number,  were  tossed  upon  the  stormy  ocean  for  more 
than  four  months,  enduring  all  the  hardships  of  a  severe  win- 
ter in  vessels  that  to-day  would  seldom  venture  upon  the 
ocean,  even  in  coastwise  trade.  Compare  the  two  months 
and  more  of  life  on  the  Mayflower,  where  the  passengers  were 
crowded  into  the  closest  quarters,  with  the  short  six  or  seven 
days'  trip  to  or  from  England  to-day  on  the  ocean  steamers, 


TRAVEL — BY    WATER. 


195 


where    travelers    find    comforts    and    conveniences    almost 
greater  than  those  they  are  accustomed  to  at  home. 

Although  the  emigrants  suffered  greatly  in  these  voyages 
across  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  the  day  of  the  return  of  the  ves- 
sels to  England  was  a  sad  one.  When  the  last  glimpse  of  the 
receding  ship  had  vanished,  the  homesick  watchers  realized 


PILGRIM  EXILES. 


as  never  before  their  isolation — their  separation  from  every- 
body and  everything  in  which  they  were  interested.  Until 
vessels  should  again  arrive  from  across  the  ocean  they  would 
be  thrown  entirely  upon  their  own  resources.  The  settlers 
were  thus  very  dependent  upon  the  ships  that  crossed  the 
Atlantic  so  infrequently  and  with  such  difficulty. 

Soon  after  the  settlement,  however,  some  of  the  colonies 
began  to  build  vessels  of  their  own.  The  forests  provided 
lumber  in  great  quantity  and  of  the  best  quality.  The  first 


196  AMERICAN    INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

vessel  to  be  built  by  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  was 
launched  at  Medford  the  next  year  after  the  settlement  of 
Boston.  This  small  vessel  was  owned  by  Governor  Winthrop 
and  was  appropriately  called  the  Blessing  of  the  Bay.  The 
same  year  a  Dutch  ship,  twenty  times  as  large,  was  con- 
structed at  New  Amsterdam. 

A  large  part  of  the  colonial  shipbuilding  was  confined  to 
New  England,  the  Blessing  of  the  Bay  being  but  a  leader  in 
a  long  line.  Within  two  years  a  ship  as  large  as  the  May- 
flower was  built  at  Boston,  and  another  twice  as  large  at 
Salem.  Withi'n  thirty-five  years  Boston  had  one  hundred 
and  thirty  sail  on  the  sea.  New  York  built  fewer  but  larger 
ships.  Philadelphia  was  a  leading  shipbuilding  town,  and 
many  vessels  were  constructed  in  the  Carolinas. 

The  activity  of  the  colonists  in  thus  providing  means  for 
travel  by  water  was  not  limited  to  ocean  shipbuilding.  The 
rivers,  the  inland  roads,  already  prepared  by  nature,  were 
used  from  the  very  beginning.  As  the  settlements  grew, 
both  in  population  and  in  numbers,  travel  between  them  be- 
came more  and  more  necessary,  and  the  rivers  and  streams 
came  more  and  more  into  use.  The  settlers  were  wise 
enough  to  follow  the  example  of  the  Indians  and  to  make 
themselves  at  once  familiar  with  canoes  and  small  boats  of 
every  description. 

The  earliest  form  of  water  travel  was,  perhaps,  the  raft.  It 
was  usually  made  of  floating  logs  or  bundles  of  brush  tied  to- 
gether. To-day,  even,  rafts  of  single  logs,  merely  pointed  at 
the  ends,  are  found  in  Australia,  as  well  as  rafts  of  reeds.  On 
the  coast  of  Peru  rafts  seventy  feet  long  and  twenty  feet  broad 
are  common, — large  enough  to  use  sails  as  well  as  paddles. 

The  next  step  was  to  use  the  single  log,  made  hollow  by 
gradually  burning  it  out  or  by  slowly  chipping  away  pieces 


TRAVEL — BY   WATER.  197 

with  some  sharp  implement.  On  the  Atlantic  coast  the  most 
common  form  of  canoe  was  the  dugout,  made  from  the  cedar 
log ;  and  singularly  enough  the  same  tree  was  most  frequently 
used  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  especially  near  Puget 
Sound.  These  Western  boats  were  frequently  of  great  size, 
some  on  the  Alaskan  coast  being  ninety  feet  in  length  and 
propelled  by  forty  paddles.  The  Indians  had  found  these 
dugouts  very  serviceable,  and  as  the  European  colonists  began 
to  travel  over  the  same  rivers  and  streams  they  patterned 
their  river  craft  after  those  of  the  red  men. 

The  lighter  form  of  the  canoe  was  preferred,  where  ser- 
viceable,  to   the    dugout.       This  was  made  of   a  light  but 


A  BIRCH-BARK  CANOE. 


strong  framework  covered  by  bark  or  skins.  That  used  by 
the  Esquimaux  was  of  sealskin  stretched  over  whalebone. 
But  the  more  common  form  was  the  Indian  birch-bark  canoe, 
which  rapidly  became  very  popular  among  the  colonial  hun- 
ters and  trappers.  No  better  description  of  the  birch  canoe 
can  be  found  than  that  which  the  children's  poet,  Longfel- 
low, gives  in  "Hiawatha." 

"  '  Give  me  of  your  bark,  O  Birch  Tree ! 
Of  your  yellow  bark,  O  Birch  Tree ! 
Growing  by  the  rushing  river, 
Tall  and  stately  in  the  valley! 
I  a  light  canoe  will  build  me, 
Build  a  swift  Cheemaun  for  sailing, 
That  shall  float  upon  the  river, 


198  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

Like  a  yellow  leaf  in  Autumn, 
Like  a  yellow  water-lily! 

" 'Lay  aside  your  cloak,  O  Birch  Tree! 
Lay  aside  your  white-skin  wrapper, 
For  the  Summer-time  is  coming, 
And  the  sun  is  warm  in  heaven, 
And  you  need  no  white-skin  wrapper! ' 

"  With  his  knife  the  tree  he  girdled ; 
Just  beneath  its  lowest  branches, 
Just  above  the  roots,  he  cut  it, 
Till  the  sap  came  oozing  outward; 
Down  the  trunk,  from  top  to  bottom, 
Sheer  he  cleft  the  bark  asunder, 
With  a  wooden  wedge  he  raised  it, 
Stripped  it  from  the  trunk  unbroken. 

"  'Give  me  of  your  boughs,  O  Cedar! 
Of  your  strong  and  pliant  branches, 
My  canoe  to  make  more  steady, 
Make  more  strong  and  firm  beneath  me ! ' 

"  Down  he  hewed  the  boughs  of  cedar, 
Shaped  them  straightway  to  a  framework, 
Like  two  bows  he  formed  and  shaped  them, 
Like  two  bended  bows  together. 

'"Give  me  of  your  roots,  O  Tamarack! 
Of  your  fibrous  roots,  O  Larch  Tree! 
My  canoe  to  bind  together, 
So  to  bind  the  ends  together 
That  the  water  may  not  enter, 
That  the  river  may  not  wet  me ! ' 

44  From  the  earth  he  tore  the  fibres, 
Tore  the  rough  roots  of  the  Larch  Tree, 
Closely  sewed  the  bark  together, 
Bound  it  closely  to  the  framework. 


TRAVEL — BY   WATER.  1 99 

"'Give  me  of  your  balm,  O  Fir  Tree\ 
Of  your  balsam  and  your  resin, 
So  to  close  the  seams  together 
That  the  water  may  not  enter, 
That  the  river  may  not  wet  me ! ' 

"  And  he  took  the  tears  of  balsam. 
Took  the  resin  of  the  fir  tree, 
Smeared  therewith  each  seam  and  fissure, 
Made  each  crevice  safe  from  water. 

"  Thus  the  Birch  Canoe  was  builded 
In  the  valley,  by  the  river, 
In  the  bosom  of  the  forest ; 
And  the  forest's  life  was  in  it, 
All  its  mystery  and  its  magic, 
All  the  lightness  of  the  birch  tree, 
All  the  toughness  of  the  cedar, 
All  the  Larch's  supple  sinews; 
And  it  floated  on  the  river 
Like  a  yellow  leaf  in  Autumn, 
Like  a  yellow  water-lily." 


CHAPTER    III. 
STAGECOACHES. 

BOTH  by  land  and  by  water  the  methods  of  travel  among 
the  early  colonists  were  extremely  rude.  From  the  early 
days  of  the  settlements  until  the  Independence  of  the  United 
States  the  improvement  was  very  slow.  During  the  seven- 
teenth century  practically  all  of  the  long-distance  traveling 
was  by  water.  Schooners  made  regular  trips  from  New 
England  to  Virginia,  and  smaller  sloops  or  "packets"  ran 
to  New  York  from  the  different  towns  to  the  eastward. 
These  vessels  were  dependent,  of  course,  upon  the  wind,  and 
the  length  of  the  journey  varied  greatly.  Perhaps  a  packet 
might  sail  from  New  Haven  to  New  York  in  two  days,  but 
calms  or  contrary  winds  might  delay  the  trip,  and  make  it  a 
week  in  going  from  port  to  port. 

On  land,  however,  the  facilities  for  travel  slowly  but 
surely  improved.  An  interesting  account  of  the  rudeness 
and  hardships  of  New  England  land  journeys  is  furnished 
by  the  journal  of  Sarah  Knight,  who  went  from  Boston  to 
New  York  on  horseback  nearly  two  hundred  years  ago.  The 
roads  were  openings  in  the  forest,  made  by  cutting  down  trees, 
and  were  often  blocked  by  fallen  trunks.  The  streams  that 
must  be  crossed  caused  the  most  trouble.  "We  came, "she 
wrote,  "  to  a  river  which  they  generally  ride  thro* ;  but  I  dare 
not  venture ;  so  the  post  got  a  ladd  and  cannoo  to  carry  me 
to  t'other  side,  and  he  rid  thro*  and  led  my  hors.  The  cannoo 
was  very  small  and  shallow,  so  that  when  we  were  in  she 


TRAVEL — STAGECOACHES.  2OI 

seemed  ready  to  take  in  water,  which  greatly  terrified  rnee 
and  caused  mee  to  be  very  circumspect,  sitting  with  my 
hands  fast  on  each  side,  my  eyes  stedy,  not  daring  so  much 
as  to  lodg  my  tongue  a  hair's  breadth  more  on  one  side  of 
my  mouth  than  t'other,  nor  so  much  as  think  on  Lett's  wife, 
for  a  wry  thought  would  have  oversett  our  wherey."  For  a 
woman  to  undertake  such  a  journey  was  very  unusual,  and 
after  her  return  she  wrote  with  a  diamond  on  the  glass  of  a 
window  these  lines : 

"  Through  many  toils  and  many  frights, 
I  have  returned,  poor  Sarah  Knights. 
Over  great  rocks  and  many  stones 
God  has  preserved  from  fractured  bones." 

About  the  time  that  this  long  journey  was  made,  car- 
riages began  to  come  into  use.  The  most  common  of  these 
were  the  large  coach,  the  "calash,"  and  a  lighter,  two- 
wheeled  vehicle,  with  a  calash  top,  similar  to  a  chaise. 
But  these  carriages  were  for  a  time  only  used  within  the 
towns  themselves,  where  the  large  number  of  houses  re- 
quired the  building  of  better  roads  and  streets.  Compara- 
tively few  persons  could  afford  to  own  private  carriages, 
and  their  use  was  therefore  not  general  for  many  years. 
Before  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  however,  car- 
riages became  more  common.  Broader  and  better  roads 
had  been  built,  and  longer  journeys  could  be  made.  As 
early  as  1725,  carriages  had  been  driven  from  the  Connec- 
ticut River  to  Boston,  and  overland  travel  began  to  be  more 
customary. 

The  first  roads  that  could  be  called  suitable  for  carriage 
travel  were  for  the  most  part  toll  roads.  Instead  of  being 
made  by  the  towns  or  counties,  or  by  the  colonies,  they  were 


202 


AMERICAN    INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 


built  by  corporations.  These  companies  were  granted  the 
privilege  of  charging  toll  from  every  traveler  over  their 
roads  for  the  purpose  of  paying  a  profit  to  the  members  of 
the  company,  as  well  as  to  keep  the  roads  in  repair.  In  the 
same  way  corporations  built  bridges,  charging  a  small  toll 
upon  every  one  who  crossed  them.  Thus  travel  was  im- 


OLD-STYLE  CALASHES. 


proved,  time  was  saved,  and  less  discomfort  was  caused  the 
travelers. 

In  the  eighteenth  century  public  carriages  began  to  come 
into  use.  Previously  if  any  one  wished  to  travel  by  land,  he 
found  it  necessary  to  own  or  hire  horses.  If  he  made  a  voy- 
age by  sea,  he  could  pay  his  fare  on  some  vessel  that  made 
the  trip  he  wished  to  take.  This  means  of  public  transpor- 
tation, this  carrying  a  person  or  his  goods  for  pay,  had  been 
limited,  however,  to  water  travel.  There  were  no  regular 
conveyances  running  from  town  to  town  by  land  which 
would  carry  passengers  or  freight. 

The  town  of  Plymouth  had  been  settled  nearly  a  hundred 
years  before  the  first  line  of  stagecoaches  in  any  part  of  the 
country  was  put  in  operation.  This  "  stage  wagon  "  ran  be- 


TRAVEL — STAGECOACHES.  2O3 

tween  Boston  and  Bristol  ferry,  where  it  connected  with  the 
packet  line  to  Newport  and  New  York.  Three  years  later 
a  stage  line  began  to  run  from  Boston  to  Newport,  making 
one  trip  each  way  every  week.  The  driver  advertised  to 
carry  "  bundles  of  goods,  merchandise,  books,  men,  women, 
and  children." 

Travel  was  slow,  much  slower  than  seems  possible  to-day. 
The  roads  were  still  very  poor,  in  fact  scarcely  fit  to  be  called 
roads.  Little  by  little  new  stage  lines  were  established, 
nearly  always  in  connection  with  some  packet  line.  Up  to 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  however,  opportuni- 
ties to  travel  by  stage  were  few  and  the  time  required  great. 
Three  weeks  were  needed  to  make  the  trip  from  Boston  to 
Philadelphia,  even  under  the  most  favorable  conditions. 

Less  than  three  years  before  the  battle  of  Lexington,  the 
first  stage  was  run  between  New  York  and  Boston.  The 
first  trip  was  begun  on  Monday,  July  isth,  and  the  journey's 
end  was  not  reached  until  Saturday,  July  2 5th.  Thirteen 
days  were  thus  required  for  a  trip  which  may  now  be  made 
in  five  or  six  hours.  As  the  amount  of  travel  increased  new 
lines  were  formed,  the  roads  were  improved,  and  stages  were 
run  more  frequently  and  more  rapidly.  Sixty  years  after  the 
first  trip  was  made  between  New  York  and  Boston  the  time 
had  been  cut  down  from  thirteen  days  to  one  day  and  five 
hours ;  more  than  a  hundred  lines  of  coaches  were  then  regu- 
larly running  out  of  Boston. 

In  spite,  however,  of  every  improvement,  travel  by  stage 
a  hundred  years  ago  was  no  simple  or  pleasant  matter.  Pro- 
fessor McMaster  says:  "The  stagecoach  was  little  better 
than  a  huge  covered  box  mounted  on  springs.  It  had  nei- 
ther glass  windows  nor  door  nor  steps  nor  closed  sides.  The 
roof  was  upheld  by  eight  posts  which  rose  from  the  body  of 


2C-4 


AMERICAN    INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 


the  vehicle,  and  the  body  was  commonly  breast-high.  From 
the  top  were  hung  curtains  of  leather,  to  be  drawn  up  when 
the  day  was  fine  and  let  down  and  buttoned  when  rainy  or 
cold.  Within  were  four  seats.  Without  was  the  baggage. 
When  the  baggage  had  all  been  weighed  and  strapped  on 
the  coach,  when  the  horses  had  been  attached,  the  eleven 
passengers  were  summoned,  and,  clambering  to  their  seats 
through  the  front  of  the  stage,  sat  down  with  their  faces 

toward    the    driver's 
seat." 

The  coach  would 
set  out  from  the  inn 
with  the  horses  on 
a  gallop,  which  would 
continue  until  a  steep 
hill  was  reached. 


AN  OLD-FASHIONED  STAGECOACH.  Then      WOUld 

the    slow  pacing  up 

the  hill,  the  gallop  down  again,  the  dragging  through  a  stretch 
of  muddy  road,  the  careful  fording  of  a  river,  the  watering  of 
the  horses  every  few  miles,  and  the  rapid  gallop  up  to  the  next 
inn.  Here  the  mail  pouches  would  be  taken  out  and  in, 
perhaps  a  change  of  coaches  made  or  more  frequently  of 
horses  only,  a  delay  for  a  little  gossip,  and  the  stage  would 
be  off  again.  This  was  all  very  exhilarating  and  agreeable  in 
pleasant,  warm  weather,  but  how  fatiguing  in  the  cold  and 
snows  of  winter,  and  even  during  a  chilly  summer  storm. 

These  public  conveyances  were  used  only  when  neces- 
sary. Private  carriages  were  much  preferred  to  the  stage- 
coach, as  being  a  more  comfortable  as  well  as  a  safer  mode 
of  travel.  The  story  is  told  of  one  young  lady  who  was  vis- 
iting near  Boston,  eighty  years  ago.  She  was  very  anxious 


TRAVE] 


-STAGECOACHES. 


205 


to  return  to  her  home,  but  her  father  was  unable  to  come  for 
her.  Her  mother  wrote :  "  Your  papa  would  not  trust  your 
life  in  the  stage.  It  is  a  very  unsafe  and  improper  convey- 
ance for  young  ladies.  Many  have  been  the  accidents,  many 
the  cripples  made  by  accidents  in  these  vehicles.  As  soon 
as  your  papa  can,  you  may  be  sure  he  will  go  or  send  for 
you." 


MONROE  TAVERN,  LEXINGTON,  MASS.     (BUILT  IN  1695.) 

Whether  the  traveler  went  by  stage  or  in  his  private  car- 
riage, it  was  necessary  to  stop  at  the  inns.  The  taverns  had 
a  great  deal  to  do  with  making  journeys  pleasant  or  disagree- 
able. As  a  general  rule,  the  New  England  inns  were  kept 
by  leading  men,  and  in  most  cases  the  innkeeper  was  re- 
quired to  obtain  recommendations  from  the  selectmen  of  the 
town  before  he  could  get  a  license  or  a  permission  to  establish 


206  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

and  keep  the  tavern.  Even  the  smaller  New  England  vil- 
lages boasted  of  inns  that  compared  favorably  with  the  hotels 
of  the  large  towns.  A  Frenchman,  traveling  through  the 
United  States  early  in  this  century,  wrote  in  highest  praise 
of  the  inns  of  New  England,  whose  windows  were  without 
shutters,  and  whose  doors  had  neither  locks  nor  keys,  and 
yet  where  no  harm  ever  came  to  the  traveler.  He  admired 
"  the  great  room,  with  its  low  ceiling  and  neatly  sanded  floor; 
its  bright  pewter  dishes  and  stout-backed,  slat-bottomed 
chairs  ranged  along  its  walls ;  its  long  table ;  and  its  huge 
fireplace,  with  the  benches  on  either  side." 

He  had  less  praise  for  the  inns  of  the  rest  of  the  country. 
The  buildings  were  poor,  the  fare  was  coarse,  and  the  beds 
were  bad.  The  roofs  leaked,  the  windows  were  sometimes 
mere  openings  in  the  wall ;  the  bedding  was  unclean  and  ex- 
tremely uninviting. 

If  a  traveler  were  compelled  to  stop  at  the  Southern  inns, 
he  found  his  journey  far  from  agreeable.  Fortunately  for 
him  the  Southern  planter  was  the  most  hospitable  of  persons. 
"  At  his  home  strangers  were  heartily  welcome  and  nobly 
entertained.  Some  bade  their  slaves  ask  in  any  traveler  that 
might  be  seen  passing  by.  Some  kept  servants  on  the  watch 
to  give  notice  of  every  approaching  horseman  or  of  the  dis- 
tant rumble  of  a  coming  coach  and  four."  On  the  plantation 
the  traveler  was  always  treated  as  a  most  intimate  friend,  and 
in  the  cheery  comfort  of  the  mansion  he  forgot,  for  the  time 
being,  the  trials  and  hardships  of  travel  by  land. 


CHAPTER    IV. 
STEAMBOATS, 

THE  idea  of  payment  for  transportation  is  very  old. 
Thousands  of  years  ago  we  read  of  vessels  sailing  upon  the 
Mediterranean  Sea  prepared  to  transport  persons  or  freight 
for  sums  of  money.  Where  this  idea  originated  is  not  known, 
but  it  may  have  occurred  to  a  savage  for  the  first  time  in  some 
such  way  as  the  following: 

A  hunter  lived  on  the  banks  of  a  river  in  Asia.  One  day 
he  shot  a  duck  which  fell  to  the  ground  on  the  opposite 
shore.  The  hunter  needed  the  bird,  for  he  was  hungry,  but 
how  was  he  to  obtain  it?  The  river  was  very  deep  at  this 
point,  and  he  could  not  swim.  He  knew  that  there  was  a 
shallow  place  five  miles  up  the  stream,  where  he  might  ford 
the  river,  and  another  ford  five  miles  below.  But  to  cross 
by  either  of  these  would  require  a  journey  of  ten  miles  to  the 
bird  and  ten  miles  back,  just  to  get  across  a  narrow  river. 
He  remembered  that  a  big  log  lay  upon  a  sand-bar  in  the 
river  not  far  from  where  he  was.  He  took  a  pole,  pried  off 
the  log  and  rolled  it  into  the  water.  Then  seating  himself 
on  it  he  poled  himself  across,  obtained  the  duck,  and  soon 
reached  his  home  again.  Here  was  the  first  water  travel. 

A  few  days  later  he  heard  a  cry  from  over  the  river. 
Looking  up,  he  saw  a  man  who  desired  to  cross.  The 
stranger  called  to  him  to  get  his  log  and  take  him  over,  as 
lie  had  carried  himself.  The  hunter  saw  that  the  stranger 
had  a  deer  on  his  shoulder.  He  was  hungry,  and  therefore 


208  AMERICAN    INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

called  out:  "Give  me  the  hind  leg  and  half  the  loin  of  your 
deer  for  my  labor,  and  I  will  bring  you  safely  over."  The 
stranger  promptly  agreed,  and  the  hunter  poled  across  the 
river.  In  some  such  way  doubtless  was  the  first  payment 
made  for  transportation,  and  the  idea  soon  became  common 
that  it  was  just  and  proper  to  charge  a  fare  for  carrying 
freight  and  passengers. 

'  What  powers  have  we  found  used  in  transportation  up  to 
a  hundred  years  ago?  First  there  was  human  power,  either 
walking  or  plying  oars  or  paddles.  This  energy  is  limited ; 
walking  is  necessarily  a  slow  process,  and  rowing  is  seldom  a 
rapid  mode  of  travel.  Then  came  horse  power,  used  first  to 
carry  travelers  or  goods  and  later  to  draw  carriages  and 
wagons,  conveying  passengers  and  freight.  Horse  power  is 
superior  to  human  power  both  in  speed  and  in  endurance, 
but  it  also  has  its  limits  and  often  fails  at  important  times. 

Then  use  was  made  of  the  wind,  which,  blowing  against 
stretches  of  canvas,  propelled  vessels.  Here  was  no  human 
power  to  become  wearied;  no  horse  power  to  fail  at  the 
wrong  time.  Vessels  need  not  stop  at  night  in  order  to 
sleep,  nor  even  at  noon  in  order  to  take  dinner.  But  the 
wind  is  fickle ;  it  does  not  always  blow ;  it  frequently  blows 
from  the  wrong  direction;  it  often  blows  too  much.  Human 
power,  horse  power,  wind  power,  each  was  insufficient  or  un- 
satisfactory, and  the  time  was  ripe  for  some  power  stronger 
and  less  fickle  to  produce  more  rapid  transportation. 

When  the  necessity  of  a  new  power  became  great,  the 
needed  energy  and  a  way  to  use  it  were  soon  found.  Near 
the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  a  number  of  men,  un- 
acquainted with  each  other's  ideas,  began  to  experiment  with 
steam  as  a  means  for  propelling  vessels.  Why  had  they  not 
begun  earlier?  For  two  reasons.  The  demand  for  quicker 


TRAVEL — STEAMBOATS. 


209 


water  travel  had  but  just  commenced,  and  the  fact  that  steam 
could  practically  be  used  as  a  motive  power  was  only  begin- 
ning to  be  understood. 

It  so  happened  that  James  Watt's  steam  engine  was  per- 
fected just  as  the  treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain  ac- 
knowleged  the  independ 
ence  of  the  United  States. 
Now  American  inventors 
were  able  to  make  use  of 
the  steam  engine  to  aid 
travel  and  transportation. 
At  once  they  began  work. 
Samuel  Morey  built  a 
steamboat  on  the  upper 
Connecticut  River;  James 
Rumsey  experimented  on 
the  Potomac;  John  Fitch 
on  the  Delaware,  and  Wil- 
liam Longstreet  on  the 
Savannah ;  Oliver  Evans 
was  at  work  in  Philadel- 
phia, and  John  Stevens  on 

the  Hudson.  FITCH'S  STEAMBOAT. 

One  of  these  boats  used 

the  steam  engine  to  move  oars ;  another  pumped  water  in  at 
the  bow  and  forced  it  out  again  at  the  stern;  a  third  had  a 
wheel  in  the  stern ;  and  a  fourth  had  a  paddle  wheel  on  each 
side.  Some  of  the  vessels  used  upright,  and  some  hori- 
zontal engines.  Most  of  these  inventors  succeeded  in  run- 
ning their  boats  against  the  tide  or  the  current  of  rivers,  and 
proved  that  steam  could  be  thus  used.  Each  may  be  said  to 
have  invented  a  steamboat.  But  these  men  were  all  without 
14 

THE 

UNIVERSITY 


210  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

means;  they  did  not  succeed  in  awakening  the  interest  of 
wealthy  men ;  and  the  public  cared  little  about  such  inven- 
tions. Therefore  each  of  these  steamboats  was  given  up  in 
turn  and  soon  forgotten ;  the  eighteenth  century  passed  away, 
and  no  practical  result  had  appeared.  It  is  natural  to  have 
more  interest  in  the  account  of  an  invention  which  proved  of 
practical  value  than  in  the  stories  of  even  successful  at- 
tempts which  were  given  up  almost  as  soon  as  made. 

Robert  Fulton  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  just  as  Watt 
began  his  study  of  the  steam  engine.  Almost  as  soon  as 
Watt  had  completed  his  improvements  on  the  engine,  Fulton 
came  of  age,  and  went  to  England  to  study  painting  with 
Benjamin  West,  the  famous  American  artist.  In  the  midst 
of  his  art  studies  he  became  interested  in  mechanical  pur- 
suits. He  attracted  the  attention  of  some  English  scientists, 
and,  by  their  encouragement,  he  abandoned  painting  and 
devoted  himself  to  inventing.  But  who  knows  how  much 
assistance  his  skill  in  drawing  may  have  been  to  him  in  his 
preparations  of  plans  and  models  ? 

Joel  Barlow,  a  noted  American  poet,  was  then  living  in 
France,  and  upon  his  invitation  Fulton  spent  several  years 
in  his  home  in  Paris.  Here  he  devoted  his  time  to  boats,  as 
he  had  already  done  in  London.  His  schemes  were  of  vari- 
ous kinds.  He  planned  diving  boats,  steamboats,  and  canal 
boats,  and  was  particularly  interested  in  a  boat  which  he 
called  a  marine  torpedo.  This  boat  he  planned  to  be  used 
to  injure  vessels  in  naval  warfare.  For  a  time  he  neglected 
the  steamboat,  and  bent  every  energy  to  persuade  the  French 
Government  to  adopt  the  torpedo.  Afterward  he  urged  his 
marine  boats  upon  the  English  and  American  governments, 
but  in  vain.  He  did  not  realize  the  enormously  greater 
future  value  of  the  steamboat. 


TRAVEL— STEAMBOATS.  2  1 1 

In  time,  however,  Fulton  finished  his  plans,  and  a  steam- 
boat was  built  for  him  upon  the  river  Seine.  The  next  step 
was  to  enlist  the  cooperation  of  some  one  with  power  and 
means  by  proving  that  the  invention  was  valuable.  Fulton 
accordingly  sought  to  bring  the  boat  to  the  attention  of  the 
French  Emperor.  He  succeeded  in  awakening  Napoleon's 
interest.  It  was  just  at  the  time  that  the  emperor  was  plan- 
ning to  take  his  great  army  across  the  Channel  to  attack  Eng- 
land. He  saw  that  steamboats,  if  of  practical  value,  would 
be  serviceable  to  him  in  these  plans.  Accordingly  he  directed 
a  scientific  committee  to  attend  a  public  trial  of  the  boat. 

A  day  was  set  for  the  examination.  Fulton  had  worked 
steadily  for  weeks,  seeking  to  make  every  part  as  perfect  as 
possible.  The  night  before  the  appointed  day,  Fulton  re- 
tired for  rest,  but  sleep  would  not  come  to  his  eyes.  His 
thoughts  were  so  completely  fixed  upon  his  invention  and 
what  the  next  day  meant  to  him  that  he  could  not  control 
them.  Not  until  morning  began  to  dawn  did  he  catch  a  nap, 
and  then  only  to  be  immediately  awakened  by  a  knock  at  his 
door. 

A  messenger  had  come  to  tell  him  that  his  boat  was  at 
the  bottom  of  the  river.  The  iron  machinery  had  proved  too 
heavy  for  the  little  sixteen-foot  boat,  and  had  broken  through. 
Fulton's  hopes  were  at  an  end.  Before  he  could  build  an- 
other boat  and  make  another  engine  the  opportunity  would 
be  past.  His  disappointment  was  intense.  However,  he  did 
not  despair,  but  was  soon  ready  to  try  again. 

Doubtless  the  failure  was  a  blessing  in  disguise.  The 
boat  was  probably  too  small  to  make  a  successful  trip.  The 
next  time  he  would  have  a  larger  vessel.  Instead  of  again 
trying  to  arouse  French  interest,  he  decided  to  make  the 
next  experiment  at  home. 


212  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

Robert  R.  Livingston,  our  minister  to  France,  who  to- 
gether with  James  Monroe  purchased  for  the  United  States 
the  great  province  of  Louisiana,  had  long  been  interested  in 
the  possibilities  of  steam  navigation.  He  entered  into  Ful- 
ton's plans  and  assisted  him  in  every  way.  Soon  after  the 
disaster  on  the  Seine  both  men  returned  to  America,  and  the 
next  six  months  were  spent  in  building  a  boat  and  in  putting 
into  it  a  steam  engine  which  they  had  especially  ordered  in 
Birmingham,  England.  A  grant  had  been  obtained  from 
the  New  York  legislature  which  gave  them  the  exclusive 
right  to  run  steam  vessels  on  any  of  the  waters  of  the 
State. 

The  new  boat  was  a  hundred  and  thirty  feet  in  length, 
or  eight  times  as  long  as  that  lost  in  the  Seine.  It  was  called 
the  Clermont,  after  the  country  home  of  Livingston.  It 
was  a  side-paddle  steamboat,  with  wheels  fifteen  feet  in  diam- 
eter and  four  feet  wide.  The  trial  trip  was  announced  for 
August  7th,  1807,  and  at  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the 
Clermont  stood  at  the  wharf  in  New  York  ready  for  the 
journey. 

Was  the  trial  to  succeed  or  fail?  To  succeed,  the  Cler- 
mont must  steam  up  the  Hudson  River  at  a  speed  of,  at  least, 
four  miles  an  hour.  The  trip  proposed  was  from  New  York 
to  Albany,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  and 
return.  This  trip  was  regularly  made  by  sailing  packets, 
and  the  average  time  was  four  days.  Could  the  Clermont 
reach  Albany  in  thirty-seven  hours,  or  a  day  and  a  half? 
Unfortunately,  a  north  wind  was  blowing,  which  would 
greatly  decrease  the  speed. 

Fulton  and  Livingston  were  confident  that  it  could  be 
done.  The  steamboat  left  the  wharf  and  slowly  sailed  up  the 
river.  Soon  the  faults  natural  to  a  new  invention  began  to 


TRAVEL — STEAMBOATS.  21$ 

show  themselves.  The  rudder  did  not  work  as  it  ought;  the 
wheels  were  unprotected  by  a  covering;  the  vessel  sank  too 
far  in  the  water.  But  the  trial,  in  spite  of  all  the  odds 
against  it,  was  successful.  The  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
were  made  in  thirty-two  hours,  with  five  hours  to  spare  from 
the  limit  set.  If  we  subtract  the  time  spent  in  stops,  but 
twenty- eight  and  a  half  hours  were  used,  making  an  average 
of  more  than  five  miles  an  hour. 

The  first  long  steamboat  trip  had  been  accomplished. 
The  indifference  of  the  public  at  once  changed  to  enthu- 
siasm. Fulton  was  immediately  urged  to  make  regular  trips, 
and,  although  the  Clermont  needed  many  improvements,  he 
consented.  The  next  winter,  however,  the  boat  was  re- 
moved from  the  river  for  repairs ;  but  in  the  spring  regular 
trips  were  resumed,  and  the  steamboat  became  a  new  and 
permanent  means  of  transportation. 

There  was  abundant  opportunity  to  improve  the  steam- 
boat and  develop  its  use.  At  first  Fulton's  Clermont  alone 
steamed  up  and  down  the  Hudson  River.  Scon,  however, 
other  steamboats  were  built  to  run  in  opposition  to  the  sail- 
ing packets.  Steamers  began  to  ply  on  Lake  Champlain  and 
on  the  Delaware  River.  Three  years  after  the  first  voyage 
of  the  Clermont,  a  steamboat  was  making  three  trips  a  week 
from  New  York  to  New  Brunswick,  New  Jersey;  here  the 
traveler  took  stage  for  Bordentown  on  the  Delaware  River, 
whence  another  boat  carried  him  to  Philadelphia.  Two  years 
later  steam  ferryboats  ran  between  New  York  and  the  Jersey 
shore. 

The  first  river  steamboat  was  launched  at  Pittsburg,  and 
was  sent  down  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi  to  New  Orleans 
in  1811.  Three  years  later  the  ALtna  steamed  from  Pitts- 
burg  to  New  Orleans,  and  back  to  Louisville.  The  same 


214  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

year  a  steamboat  was  built  on  the  Lakes  to  run  from  Buffalo 
to  Detroit,  and  a  company  was  organized  to  start  a  steamship 
line  from  New  York  to  Charleston.  Five  years  afterward 
the  steamship  Savannah,  using  both  steam  and  sails,  crossed 
the  Atlantic  Ocean.  She  made  but  slow  time,  and  the  great 
space  required  to  hold  the  fuel  left  little  room  for  freight. 
Year  by  year,  however,  improvements  were  made  on  the 
vessels  and  quicker  time  was  the  result.  Finally,  anthracite 
coal  came  into  general  use,  and  thirty  years  after  the  trial 
trip  of  the  Clermont,  the  steamers  Sirius  and  the  Great  West- 
ern began  regular  trips  between  Liverpool  and  New  York. 
The  day  of  steam  navigation  had  come,  and  from  that  time 
on  the  vexatious  delays  due  to  fickle  winds  no  longer  need 
be  a  cause  of  trouble. 


CHAPTER    V. 

CANALS. 

NINETY  years  ago,  two  brothers,  James  and  John,  found 
it  necessary  to  make  the  long  journey  from  their  home  in 
New  York  City  to  Kentucky.  They  had  frequently  traveled 
through  the  country,  and  were  familiar  with  stages  and 
packets.  This  time  they  proposed  to  make  their  first  trip 
on  the  steamboat,  since  the  Clermont  was  again  making  its 
regular  runs.  It  was  advertised  to  leave  New  York  at  one 
o'clock  on  Wednesday.  The  brothers  felt  no  need  of  haste 
in  their  preparations  for  the  journey,  and  it  was  nearly  two 
o'clock  before  they  came  in  sight  of  the  wharf.  Just  then 
John  made  the  remark  that  they  were  very  foolish  to  arrive 
so  early. 

"  We  shall  have  to  wait  an  hour  or  two,"  he  said ;  "the  boat 
won't  be  ready  to  start  before  three  o'clock  at  the  earliest." 

"  I  am  not  so  sure,"  was  the  reply.  "  Perhaps  the  steam- 
boat will  not  be  as  late  as  the  packets." 

When  they  reached  the  wharf,  no  steamboat  was  there. 
Far  up  the  river  they  saw,  slowly  moving  off  in  the  distance, 
a  vessel,  which  they  knew  must  be  the  Clermont,  from  the 
line  of  smoke  that  lay  behind  it.  Immediately  they  began  to 
inquire  what  it  meant  and  were  told,  "  Oh !  that  is  one  of  Ful- 
ton's notions.  He  has  given  strict  orders  that  the  boat  shall 
always  leave  the  wharf  exactly  on  advertised  time."  This 
was  a  novelty  almost  as  great  as  the  steamboat  itself.  Sail- 
ing vessels  had  been  dependent  upon  the  wind,  and  stages 


2l6  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

upon  the  conditions  of  the  roads  and  the  weather;  neither 
made  any  pretence  of  running  upon  schedule  time.  Fulton's 
idea  of  punctuality  was  new  and  caused  much  grumbling  for 
a  time ;  but  with  the  coming  of  the  railroads  it  became  an 
absolute  necessity. 

What  were  the  two  men  to  do?  But  two  things  could  be 
done.  They  might  take  passage  on  a  packet,  or  wait  for  the 
next  trip  of  the  Clermont.  They  decided  to  wait,  as  they  were 
anxious  to  try  the  steamboat ;  they  had  had  enough  experi- 
ence with  the  slow  sailing  vessels,  and  their  poor  accommoda- 
tions. They  did  not  permit  themselves  to  be  late  a  second 
time.  In  fact,  the  clocks  had  hardly  struck  twelve  when  they 
stepped  aboard  the  Clermont. 

The  hour  before  the  departure  of  the  boat  was  spent  in 
examining  it  from  stem  to  stern.  The  original  Clermont  had 
been  greatly  improved.  The  wheels  were  now  properly  pro- 
tected ;  a  rudder,  specially  adapted  to  the  boat  and  the  river, 
had  been  constructed.  Most  noticeable  were  the  accommoda- 
tions for  the  passengers,  which  were  almost  elegant  when 
compared  with  the  poor  quarters  of  the  packets.  In  fact  the 
Clermont  had  become  "  a  floating  palace,  gay  with  ornamental 
painting,  gilding,  and  polished  woods." 

At  one  o'clock  sharp  the  boat  quietly  left  the  wharf.  The 
wind  was  blowing  freshly  down  the  river  and  the  tide  was 
going  out.  A  packet  started  at  the  same  moment  from  a 
neighboring  pier.  The  steamboat  at  once  turned  its  prow 
up  the  stream,  but  the  packet  headed  for  the  Jersey  shore, 
as  it  could  sail  against  the  wind  only  by  making  long  tacks. 
This  greatly  increased  the  distance  it  had  to  travel,  and  be- 
fore sunset  the  Clermont  had  left  the  packet  many  miles 
behind. 

The  next  morning  everything  was  still  going  smoothly 


TRAVEL — CANALS. 


217 


when  the  two  passengers  saw  a  little  way  ahead  another 
packet,  which  had  left  New  York  before  the  steamboat. 
This  sloop  was  making  tacks  like  those  they  had  watched  the 
previous  afternoon,  and  the  Clermont  was  rapidly  gaining  on 
it.  Suddenly  John  exclaimed,  "What  are  they  doing?  Are 
they  trying  to  run  us  down  ?  "  It  was  evident  that  the  packet 
was  coming  straight  for  the  steamboat;  but  the  captain  of 

the  Clermont  shut 
off  steam  at  once 
and  the  packet 
passed  its  bow  with- 
out doing  harm. 

Soon     a     sloop 
was     met     coming 


down  the  river. 
Again  came  the  ex- 
clamation  from 
John,  "  They  are 
surely  trying  to  run 
into  us !  "  He  had 

hardly  spoken  when  the  crash  came ;  the  packet  struck  the 
wheel  box,  tore  it  open,  and  then,  sliding  along  the  side  of 
the  steamboat,  passed  away  down  the  river.  On  inquiry 
John  ascertained  that  this  was  merely  an  illustration  of  the 
envy  of  the  owners  of  packets,  who  feared  that  they  would 
lose  all  their  business.  No  serious  damage  was  done,  how- 
ever, and  the  steamboat  proceeded  on  its  way. 

The  Clermont  arrived  at  Albany  at  seven  o'clock  Thurs- 
day evening  and  the  brothers  spent  the  night  at  an  inn. 
The  next  morning,  after  an  early  breakfast,  a  stage  was 
taken  which  in  a  few  hours  carried  them  to  Schenectady. 
This  part  of  the  journey  was  quickly  made,  as  the  road  was 


COLLISION   OF  TH1-:  CLEKMOWT  AND  THE  SLOOP. 


2l8  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

one  of  the  best  in  the  country.  On  reaching  Schenectady 
the  travelers  learned  that  they  must  wait  till  the  next  noon 
to  take  a  boat  up  the  Mohawk  River.  The  hours  slowly 
dragged  along,  another  night  was  spent  at  an  inn,  and  about 
three  o'clock  the  next  afternoon  the  slow  trip  up  the  Mohawk 
began.  Two  days  later  they  reached  Utica,  and  another  stage 
took  them,  the  next  day,  to  Rome.  From  this  village  two 
days'  sail  carried  them  across  the  Oneida  Lake,  and  down  the 
Oswego  River  to  Oswego  on  the  banks  of  Lake  Ontario. 

After  a  delay  of  thirty-six  hours  a  lake  packet  was  found 
ready  for  them,  which  in  time  arrived  at  Lewiston  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Niagara  River,  and  so  on  they  went,  by  land  to 
Buffalo,  by  water  to  Erie,  by  land  again  to  one  of  the  branch- 
es of  the  Alleghany  River,  and  down  this  to  Pittsburg. 
From  Pittsburg  one  of  the  flat-bottomed  Western  river  boats, 
borne  along  by  the  current,  conveyed  them  to  Louisville,  at 
the  Falls  of  the  Ohio. 

Thus  was  made,  in  several  weeks,  a  trip  from  New  York 
to  Louisville,  which  to-day  requires  scarcely  more  than 
twenty-four  hours.  Ten  times  had  changes  been  made  in 
the  conveyances  used.  A  steamboat,  river  rowboats,  lake 
packets,  Western  flatboats  and  stages,  were  all  needed,  and 
nights  and  days  even  were  spent  at  inns.  Slow  and  cum- 
brous was  travel  in  those  days  and  very  expensive.  There  was 
little  traveling  for  pleasure,  and  only  the  most  important  busi- 
ness was  worth  the  hardships  and  discomforts  of  such  travel. 

If  it  was  costly  for  passengers  to  travel,  it  was  even  more 
expensive  to  carry  freight.  Enormous  charges  were  placed 
upon  all  transportation  of  goods.  New  and  better  roads  were 
being  built  in  all  directions,  but  these  did  little  to  reduce  the 
cost  of  transporting  goods.  The  cheapest  routes  continued 
to  be  by  the  rivers,  as  the  expense  of  building  good  roads  and 


TRAVEL — CANALS.  2  19 

keeping  them  in  repair  added  to  freight  charges.  The 
charges  for  freight  transportation  were  so  great  that  it  pre- 
vented entirely  the  moving  of  many  goods. 

The  people  in  Pennsylvania  desired  the  salt  which  was 
obtained  in  New  York,  but  it  cost  $2.50  a  bushel  to  carry 
salt  three  hundred  miles.  Citizens  of  Philadelphia  would 
have  purchased  flour  which  was  raised  about  the  sources  of 
the  Susquehanna  River  had  it  not  cost  $1.50  a  barrel  to  carry 
it  to  Philadelphia.  Hundreds  of  families  were  weekly  mov- 
ing westward  into  the  new  country  across  the  Alleghany 
Mountains;  they  could  not  afford  to  take  their  household 
goods  with  them.  The  freight  charges  from  New  York  to 
Buffalo  were  $120  a  ton ;  from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburg,  $125. 

Something  new  in  the  line  of  transportation  was  needed ; 
some  way  by  which  freight  could  be  carried  at  less  expense. 
Private  companies  were  building  new  toll  roads — but  these 
did  not  accomplish  the  purpose.  Different  States  expended 
money  in  improving  the  highways,  and  still  the  expense  of 
transportation  was  enormous.  The  national  Government 
also  took  part  in  the  work  and  constructed  a  highway  from 
Cumberland,  Maryland,  to  Wheeling,  on  the  Ohio  River — 
but  this  was  merely  a  single  road  over  the  mountains,  and 
freight  charges  were  as  high  as  ever. 

What  could  be  done?  Of  course  the  roads  everywhere 
must  be  improved  and  new  ones  built — all  of  which  would 
take  many  years.  But  was  there  not  some  way  to  avoid  car- 
rying so  much  freight  in  wagons  drawn  by  horses?  Wher- 
ever there  were  rivers  these  could  be  used.  Was  it  possible 
to  make  rivers,  or  at  least  to  make  water-ways,  upon  which 
boats  might  be  used?  The  people  of  the  United  States  began 
to  talk  of  canals,  and  soon  enthusiasm  for  canal  building  be 
came  universal. 


220  AMERICAN    INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

What  is  a  canal?  It  is  a  trench  cut  in  the  ground,  filled 
with  water  deep  enough  for  a  well-laden  boat,  and  wide 
enough  for  boats  to  pass  each  other.  On  one  bank  is  a  path, 
called  the  towpath,  upon  which  horses  or  mules  travel,  pull- 
ing a  canal  boat  behind  them  by  means  of  a  long  rope.  In 
most  canals  it  is  found  necessary  to  lift  the  boats  over  higher 
land  or  up  to  a  higher  level.  This  is  done  by  locks,  which  are 
built  where  the  two  levels  of  the  canal  come  together.  These 
locks  are  shut  off  from  each  part  of  the  canal  by  gates. 
When  the  lower  gates  are  shut  and  the  upper  gates  open, 
water  is  let  into  the  lock  from  the  upper  canal  until  on  a 
level  with  it.  Then  a  canal  boat  from  the  upper  canal  enters 
the  lock.  The  upper  gates  are  closed,  the  lower  gates  opened, 
and  the  water  runs  out  of  the  lock.  The  boat,  remaining  on 
top  of  the  water,  sinks  to  the  lower  level  and  is  ready  to  pro- 
ceed on  its  course.  In  traveling  the  other  way  the  process  is 
turned  about.  The  boat  enters  the  lock  and  rises  with  the 
water  which  is  let  in  from  above  until  it  is  on  the  upper 
level. 

Canals,  with  their  locks,  are  simple  and  easily  built. 
The  expense  lies  mainly  in  digging  the  trench.  When  the 
canal  is  once  finished  the  cost  of  running  is  very  slight,  and 
freight  can  be  carried  much  more  cheaply  than  over  roads, 
or  even  by  the  natural  rivers.  Canal  travel  is  very  slow, 
.however,  as  the  boat  is  drawn  by  a  horse  at  a  slow  walk. 
Therefore  a  canal  is  used,  for  the  most  part,  to  carry  freight, 
especially  freight  not  very  perishable.  Garden  vegetables, 
fruit,  and  meats,  for  example,  are  not  carried  on  canals  to 
any  great  distance ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  length  of  time  used 
in  conveying  salt,  or  flour,  or  household  goods,  is  not  of  so 
much  importance. 

Plans  for  canals  sprang  up  all  at  once  throughout  the 


TRAVEL —  CANALS. 


221 


country.  The  Middlesex  canal  in  Massachusetts  and  the 
Blackstone  canal  between  Providence  and  Worcester  were 
among  the  first  built.  The  Delaware  and  Hudson  canal  in 
New  York,  and  the  Chesapeake  and  Delaware  in  Maryland 
were  of  early  importance.  In  time  nearly  every  Atlantic 
State  had  one  or  more  canals  as  aids  to  transportation.  Many 

of  them  were  of  additional 
importance  because  they 
connected  neighboring 
bays,  and  could  furnish 
opportunities  for  water 
travel,  even  when  the  har- 
bors might  be  blockaded  in 
time  of  war. 

The  greatest  and  by  far 
the  most  important  is  the 
Erie  canal,  which  connects 
Buffalo  on  Lake  Erie  with 
Albany  on  the  Hudson 
River.  This  canal  was  due 
to  the  energy  and  persis-- 

THE  ERIE  CANAL.  tence  of  Governor  De  Witt 

Clinton,  who  dug  the  first 

shovelful  of  earth  in  1817,  and  made  the  first  trip  over  the 
completed  canal  in  1825.  There  was  great  opposition  to 
building  this  canal  at  the  expense  of  the  State,  and  the  nick- 
name of  "  Clinton's  Big  Ditch  "  was  frequently  applied  to  it. 
Governor  Clinton  was  wiser,  however,  than  his  opponents. 
Every  cent  spent  on  this  canal,  which  is  363  miles  long,  40 
feet  wide,  and  4  feet  deep,  was  wisely  spent.  On  the  day 
that  it  was  finished  the  great  prosperity  of  New  York  City 
began.  A  large  part  of  the  trade  and  commerce  between  the 


222  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

East  and  the  West  was  carried  over  the  Erie  canal,  because 
it  furnished  the  cheapest  route.  Freight  charges  between 
Buffalo  and  Albany  fell  at  once  to  less  than  one-quarter  their 
former  rates,  and  continued  to  decrease  until  they  became 
less  than  $10  a  ton. 

Thus  far  had  travel  and  transportation  improved.  From 
walking,  horseback  riding,  and  rowboats,  slow  changes  had 
led  to  stages,  packets,  steamboats,  and  canals.  From  the 
simple  Indian  trail,  like  the  Bay  Path,  had  grown  up  the 
great  highways,  like  the  National  Road.  From  slow  and 
difficult  journeys  between  neighboring  towns,  traveling  had 
become  easy  from  Maine  to  Florida,  and  from  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  to  the  Mississippi  River.  Was  there  any  chance  for 
further  improvement? 


CHAPTER  VI. 
RAILROADS. 

UP  to  this  time  progress  had  been  more  marked  upon  the 
water  than  upon  the  land.  On  the  land  travelers  were  still 
limited  to  human  power  and  horse  power.  On  the  water, 
however,  not  only  human  power  and  wind  were  used,  but 
also  horse  power  and  even  steam  power.  The  steamboat 
was  thought  to  be  the  most  rapid  means  of  transit  possitfte. 
No  energy  was  known  greater  than  that  of  steam ;  therefore 
no  new  source  of  power  was  expected. 

If  steam  could  aid  water  navigation,  could  it  not  be  used 
in  land  travel  ?  This  question  was  ever  present  in  the  minds 
of  inventors,  mechanics,  and  travelers  on  both  sides  of  the 
ocean.  Little  by  little  an  answer  was  obtained,  and  the  field 
of  steam  was  enlarged.  Even  before  Fulton's  trial  trip,  the 
first  step  in  the  direction  of  the  railroad  was  taken,  though 
steam  had  nothing  to  do  with  this  first  practical  experiment. 

The  city  of  Boston  was  built  upon  three  hills,  two  of 
which  have  now  been  almost  entirely  moved  away.  Upon 
the  third,  called  Beacon  Hill,  was  built  the  State  House. 
Early  in  this  century  the  top  of  tthis  hill  was  lowered  by  car- 
rying away  the  gravel.  For  this  purpose  a  tramway  was 
built.  This  consisted  of  two  sets  of  rails  or  tracks  from  the 
top  to  the  bottom  of  the  hill,  upon  which  cars  were  used. 
The  full  car  on  one  track  ran  down  of  its  own  weight,  pulling 
up  the  empty  car  on  the  other  track.  This  was  the  first  use 
of  rails  in  this  country 


224  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

The  first  permanent  tramway  was  built  in  Pennsylvania. 
Thomas  Leifer  owned  a  stone  quarry  about  three-quarters  of 
a  mile  from  the  nearest  wharf  on  the  Delaware  River.  He 
desired  to  carry  his  stone  to  tide  water  more  easily  than 
by  the  ordinary  methods.  Accordingly  he  built  a  tramway 
from  the  quarry  to  the  wharf,  and  placed  upon  the  tracks  an 
ordinary  wagon.  To  this  he  attached  horses  and  had  what 
we  should  call  a  horse  car.  The  rails  made  a  smooth  road 
over  which  his  horses  could  draw  five  tons  as  easily  as  one 
ton  over  the  common  roads.  This  tram  was  used  regularly 
for  eighteen  years. 

One-half  of  the  steam  railroad  had  now  been  invented. 
The  tramway  was  the  railroad — now  steam  must  be  applied. 
That  was  all.  But  that  was  not  so  easy  as  it  would  seem 
now.  Year  after  year  passed  and  no  one  attempted  it. 
Doubtless  many  persons  felt  certain  that  the  steam  railroads 
were  coming  some  time  and  that  they  would  be  of  value,  just 
as  to-day  many  people  expect  that  travel  through  the  air  is 
coming  some  time.  At  the  same  time  there  were  many  who 
did  not  believe  that  steam  could  be  used  for  land  travel  at 
all ;  while  others  did  not  care  to  have  it  come  for  fear  that 
travel  would  be  made  too  speedy. 

One  of  the  leading  English  magazines  took  occasion  to 
express  its  opinion  concerning  a  proposed  railway :  "  What 
can  be  more  absurd  and  ridiculous  than  the  prospect  held  out 
of  locomotives  traveling  twice  as  fast  as  stage  coaches  /  We 
should  as  soon  expect  the  people  of  Woolwich  to  suffer  them- 
selves to  be  fired  off  upon  one  of  Congreve's  rockets  as  trust 
themselves  to  the  mercy  of  a  machine  going  at  such  a  rate. 
We  trust  that  Parliament  will,  in  all  railways  it  may  sanction, 
limit  the  speed  to  eight  or  nine  miles  an  hour,  which  is  as  great 
as  can  be  ventured  on  with  safety."  What  would  this  writer 


TRAVEL — RAILROADS.  22$ 

say  to  the  safety  of  the  trains  of  to-day,  as  they  make  forty 
fifty,  sixty,  and  even  seventy  miles  an  hour? 

Many  of  the  inventions  which  have  done  the  most  for 
mankind  have  been  made  by  Americans,  but  we  owe  the  lo- 
comotive to  an  Englishman.  George  Stephenson  from  early 
boyhood  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  engines  and  machin- 
ery. When  but  thirteen  years  of  age  he  assisted  his  father 
in  the  care  of  an  engine  at  a  coal  mine  near  Newcastle. 
Working  by  day  as  an  engineman,  and  studying  by  night  in 
a  night  school,  he  prepared  himself  for  his  future  work. 
He  won  the  confidence  of  his  employers,  especially  that  of 
Lord  Ravensworth,  who  supplied  him  with  funds  to  build  a 
"  traveling  engine  "  to  run  on  the  rails  of  the  tramroad  be- 
tween the  mines  and  the  shipping  port,  nine  miles  distant. 
July  25th,  1814,  Stephenson  made  a  successful  trip  with  his 
locomotive,  ''My  Lord,"  which  pulled  the  coal  cars  at  the 
rate  of  four  miles  an  hour. 

Stephenson  felt  that  this  locomotive  was  but  a  beginning. 
He  told  his  friends  that  "  there  was  no  limit  to  the  speed  of 
such  an  engine,  if  the  works  could  be  made  to  stand."  He 
was  still  pursuing  his  studies  and  experiments  when  he  was 
appointed  engineer  of  a  proposed  railroad  between  Stockton 
and  Darlington.  The  directors  of  the  road  had  planned  to 
pull  their  cars  by  horses,  but  they  were  won  over  by  Stephen- 
son  to  agree  to  try  an  engine.  Eleven  years  after  the  trial 
trip  of  his  first  engine,  Stephenson  was  ready  to  exhibit  a 
locomotive  upon  a  railroad  joining  two  towns  for  the  purpose 
of  transporting  passengers  and  freight. 

A  short  time  before  the  trial  trip,  Stephenson  made  a 
prediction  concerning  the  future  of  his  invention.  "  I  ven- 
ture to  tell  you,"  he  said,  "that  I  think  that  you  will  live 
to  see  the  day  when  railways  will  supersede  almost  all  other 


226  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS  AND   INVENTORS. 

methods  of  conveyance  in  this  country — when  mail  coaches 
will  go  by  railway,  and  railroads  will  become  the  great  high- 
ways for  the  king  and  all  his  subjects.  The  time  is  coming 
when  it  will  be  cheaper  for  a  working  man  to  travel  on  a  rail- 
way than  to  walk  on  foot.  I  know  that  there  are  great  and 
almost  insurmountable  difficulties  to  be  encountered,  but 
what  I  have  said  will  come  to  pass  as  sure  as  you  now  hear 
me." 

The  Stockton  and  Darlington  Railway  was  three  years  in 
process  of  construction,  and  the  day  of  its  opening,  Septem- 
ber 2 /th,  1825,  was  an  important  one  in  the  history  of  travel. 
Imagine  that  first  train  load — the  locomotive,  guided  by  Ste- 
phenson  himself,  six  freight  cars,  a  car  carrying  "  distin- 
guished guests,"  twenty-one  coal  cars  crammed  with  passen- 
gers, and  six  more  freight  cars  all  loaded.  Ahead  of  the 
train,  or  procession,  as  it  might  be  called,  rode  a  man  on 
horseback,  carrying  a  flag  bearing  the  motto,  "  The  private 
risk  is  the  public  benefit."  When  the  train  started,  crowds  of 
people  ran  along  by  its  side,  for  a  time  easily  keeping  up 
with  it.  Finally,  however,  Stephenson  called  to  the  horse- 
man to  get  out  of  the  way  and,  putting  on  steam,  drove  the 
engine  at  the  rate  of  fifteen  miles  an  hour.  The  future  of 
the  locomotive  was  assured. 

Americans  were  ready  for  new  methods  of  traveling. 
Three  years  after  the  opening  of  the  first  passenger  steam- 
railway  in  England,  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  be- 
gan to  construct  a  line  from  Baltimore  westward,  and  in 
two  years  fourteen  miles  were  opened  to  travel.  For  a 
year,  however,  horses  were  used  as  motive  power ;  in 
1831,  the  road  advertised  for  locomotives.  Meanwhile  an 
engine,  called  the  "Stombridge  Lion,"  was  brought  over 
from  England,  in  1829,  and  used  on  a  line  built  by  the 


TRAVEL — RAILROADS. 


Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal  Company.  It  was  found  to 
be  too  heavy  and  was  abandoned.  The  second  locomotive 
used  in  this  country,  "The  Best  Friend  of  Charleston," 
was  built  in  New  York  City,  and  was  run  on  the  South 
Carolina  Railroad.  , 

The  locomotive  and  the  railroad  had  come,  such  as  they 
were.  The  locomotive  had  its  boiler  and  its  smokestack,  its 
cylinders  and  driving  wheels ;  but  it  had  no  cab  for  the  engi- 
neer and  the  fireman,  and 
no  brake  to  stop  the  train. 
The  tender  was  but  a  flat 
car,  earrying  fuel  and 
water.  The  cars  were 
merely  stagecoaches  made 
to  run  on  rails,  and  in  no 

OLD-STYLE  RAILROAD  TRAIN. 

way  were  the  passengers 

protected  from  the  smoke  and  cinders  of  the  burning  wood. 
Yet  this  poor,  inconvenient  railroad  was  a  great  advance 
in  itself,  and  it  foretold  greater  advances  in  the  days  to 
come. 

In  1835,  five  years  after  the  opening  of  the  first  steam 
railroad  in  the  United  States,  there  were  twenty-three 
roads  and  over  a  thousand  miles  of  track.  After  1835,  an 
average  of  nearly  four  hundred  miles  was  built  yearly  until 

1848.  From  that  time  until  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War, 
railroad  construction  proceeded  with  great  rapidity,  nearly 
two  thousand  miles  of  railroad  being  built  each  year.     In 

1849,  a  continuous  line  of  railroad  was  completed  between 
New  York  and  Boston.     Two  years  later  two  distinct  lines 
were  finished,  connecting  New  York  and  Buffalo.     At  the 
end  of  another  two  years,  through  connection  was  had  be- 
tween New  York  and  Chicago.     At  the  same  time  railroads 


228  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

were   being    built  in   all   sections   east   of   the    Mississippi 
River. 

After  peace  was  restored  in  1865,  came  a  great  period  of 
railroad  building.  During  ten  years  the  number  of  miles  of 
railroad  more  than  doubled,  nearly  four  thousand  miles  being 
built  each  year.  This  was  the  period  when  the  continuous" 
lines,  which  had  already  reached  the  Missouri  River,  were 
continued  across  the  continent.  After  five  years  of  labor  the 
Union  Pacific  Railroad,  starting  at  Omaha,  Nebraska,  met  at 
Ogden,  Utah,  the  Central  Pacific,  which  had  been  built  from 
Sacramento,  California.  May  loth,  1869,  the  last  spike  was 
driven  and  the  Pacific  coast  was  bound  to  the  Atlantic  by 
bands  of  steel. 

Since  the  completion  of  the  Union  and  Central  Pacific 
railroads,  four  other  through  lines  have  been  constructed 
across  the  Rocky  Mountains,  within  the  territory  of  the  Unit- 
ed States,  and  one  in  Canada.  It  is  now  possible  to  go  from 
ocean  to  ocean  in  less  than  five  days,  and  to  have  such  a 
choice  of  routes  that  neither  the  cold  of  winter  nor  the  heat 
of  summer  need  be  troublesome. 

At  last  the  limit  of  rapid  traveling  seems  to  have  been 
reached.  Walking  and  horseback  riding  are  indulged  in 
only  for  pleasure  and  health ;  stagecoaches  are  used  only  for 
short  lines  where  the  railroad  has  not  yet  come ;  but  all  the 
long-distance  traveling  is  now  done  behind  the  locomotive. 
Journeys  of  weeks  have  become  trips  of  a  few  days,  days 
have  been  lessened  to  hours,  and  the  country  has  become 
knit  together  by  rapid  transit.  Is  there  a  chance  for  further 
improvement? 


CHAPTER  VII. 
MODERN   WATER  TRAVEL. 

JAMES  GREENLEAF  arrived  in  Duluth,  one  bright  June 
day,  four  hundred  and  five  years  after  the  discovery  of 
America.  For  nearly  forty  years  he  had  been  a  missionary 
among  the  Indians  of  the  British  Northwest,  but  he  had 
finally  been  persuaded  to  take  a  well-earned  rest.  Leaving 
his  little  settlement  of  red  men,  and  taking  a  canoe,  he  had 
paddled  up  stream,  carried  his  canoe  over  a  portage,  and 
paddled  down  a  river  until  he  reached  Lake  Superior,  where 
a  small  sailboat  had  taken  him  to  the  flourishing  city  at  the 
western  end  of  the  lake. 

At  the  hotel  he  found,  as  he  expected,  his  nephew,  Henry 
Towne.'  Mr.  Towne  was  a  commercial  traveler,  always  "  on 
the  road,"  as  he  would  say,  for  a  large  furniture  establish- 
ment in  New  York.  In  a  letter  to  his  uncle  he  had  stated 
that  business  would  call  him  to  Minnesota  at  just  that  time, 
and  that  he  would  make  the  journey  with  his  uncle  from 
Duluth  to  New  York. 

The  next  day  the  two  men  started.  The  nephew  had 
made  all  the  necessary  arrangements,  having  purchased 
tickets  and  engaged  staterooms  on  the  line  of  steamboats 
that  connect  Duluth  with  Buffalo.  The  first  sight  of  the 
steamboat  caused  Mr.  Greenleaf  to  exclaim  at  its  size. 

"  It  is  not  much  like  the  steamboat  that  I  took  on  the 


230  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

Hudson  in  the  spring  of  1856,"  he  said.  "I  imagine, 
however,  that  I  shall  see  greater  differences  than  this,  the 
further  I  go." 

As  the  two  men  made  a  tour -through  the  steamboat,  t^e 
older  gave  expression  to  his  thoughts  in  many  ways. 

"  We  did  not  have  the  saloon  in  those  old  days,  when  I 
did  my  traveling.  Whenever  we  did  not  care  to  remain  on 
the  open  deck  there  was  no  parlor  to  which  we  could  go.  No 
orchestra  helped  to  while  away  our  hours.  No  piano  or  organ 
added  the  charm  of  music  to  our  journey." 

"  But  you  had  a  state  room  to  which  you  could  retire,"  re- 
plied his  companion,  as  they  came  to  the  rooms  numbered  240 
and  242,  which  numbers  were  on  the  keys  that  they  had 
obtained  at  the  purser's. 

"Yes,"  said  his  uncle,  "a  tiny  room,  six  feet  by  six,  with 
narrow  little  berths,  and  two  small  stools.  I  can  assure  you 
that  it  was  nothing  like  these  comfortable  sleeping  rooms, 
brilliantly  lighted,  with  regulation  beds,  convenient  toilet 
arrangements,  and  carpeted  floors.  However,  I  do  not  imag- 
ine that  the  machinery  will  let  me  sleep  any  better  now  than 
then." 

The  next  morning,  as  the  travelers  went  down  to  break- 
fast, the  younger  man  asked,  "Well,  uncle,  how  did  you 
sleep?" 

"Never  better,"  was  the  reply.  "I  tell  you,  Henry,  I 
want  to  look  at  the  machinery,  after  breakfast.  It  must  be 
somewhat  unlike  the  engine  of  my  day,  or  the  boat,  large 
though  it  is,  would  have  more  of  a  jar." 

When  the  two  men  stood  above  the  mammoth  engine  and 
noted  the  smooth  working  parts,  the  regular  and  even  motion 
of  the  great  piston  rods  in  and  out  of  the  cylinders,  the  quiet- 
ness and  gentleness  with  which  each  movement  took  place, 


TRAVEL — MODERN   WATER  TRAVEL.  23! 

the  uncle  said :  "  More  improvements  have  been  made  on  the 
engine  of  forty  years  ago  than  had  then  been  made  on  that 
of  the  Clermont.  And  we  used  to  think  that  the  steamboats 
of  our  day  were  as  much  superior  to  Fulton's  boat  as  his  was 
ahead  of  Fitch's  steam-moved  paddles." 

We  cannot  take  note  of  all  the  novel  sensations  that  came 
to  the  old  missionary,  nor  can  we  pause  to  relate  many  of  the 
conversations  between  the  two  men.  We  can  record  a  few 
only  of  the  greater  changes  which  were  discussed  as  they 
continued  their  journey,  and  mention  some  of  the  comments 
called  forth  by  the  scenes  through  which  Mr.  Greenleaf  was 
passing. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  second  day  the  steamboat  passed 
through  the  locks  of  the  canal  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie. 

"Uncle,"  remarked  the  drummer,  "how  does  this  canal 
compare  with  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  canal,  with  which 
you  were  familiar?  " 

"  How  can  they  be  compared?  "  replied  his  uncle.  "  That 
was  a  long  trench,  hardly  more  than  a  scratch  on  the  surface 
of  the  ground.  This  is  broad  and  deep,  though  not  long." 

"Yes,"  said  Mr.  Towne,  "but  there  is  no  new  princi- 
ple here.  This  canal  is  somewhat  wider  and  deeper;  its  locks 
and  gates  are  somewhat  larger.  Still  it  is  only  a  canal." 

"  But  we  could  not  make  such  a  hole  in  our  day.  We 
could  not  afford  to  hire  men  enough  to  dig  it ;  it  must  have 
required  many  years  to  make  this  excavation." 

"  Oh ;  this  canal  was  not  made  as  large  as  this  when  it 
was  first  built.  It  has  been  enlarged  since.  But  you  know 
that  we  do  not  do  all  our  digging  now  by  hand.  Steam 
shovels  do  the  work  for  us.  That  gives  us  a  great  advantage 
over  the  day  laborer  with  his  pick  and  shovel." 

"What  strikes  me  as  most  noticeable,"  said  Mr.  Green- 


232  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS  AND   INVENTORS. 

leaf,  "  is  the  number  of  vessels  waiting  on  both  sides  of  the 
lock.  What  causes  such  a  crowd  to-day,  particularly?  " 

"  This  is  no  unusual  number,"  replied  Mr.  Towne.  "  You 
do  not  realize  what  a  traffic  there  is  on  the  great  lakes.  It 
is  stated  that  the  tonnage  passing  through  this  canal  is 
greater  than  that  through  any  other  strait  on  the  face  of  the 
globe.  This  growth  is  very  recent  and  very  rapid." 

"  But  what  causes  the  traffic  and  where  are  all  the  vessels 
going?  "  asked  the  missionary. 

"  The  great  bulk  of  the  freight, "  answered  the  younger 
man,  "is  grain  from  the  Northwest,  and  iron,  copper,  coal, 
and  lumber,  now  being  obtained  in  vast  quantities  south  of 
Lake  Superior.  So  long  as  the  steamboats  can  carry  freight 
more  cheaply  than  the  steam  cars,  grain  and  ores  will  take 
this  route.  Sometime  we  shall  have  canals  large  enough  for 
ocean  steamers,  which  will  connect  the  great  lakes  with  the 
Atlantic  Ocean.  Then  we  can  load  our  freight  at  Chicago  or 
Duluth  and  not  change  it  until  it  is  unloaded  at  some  Eng- 
lish or  European  port." 

The  next  day,  as  the  steamboat  was  lying  at  the  wharf 
at  Detroit,  conversation  was  turned  to  the  great  ferryboats 
plying  across  the  river. 

"  I  notice  great  changes  in  the  steam  ferries,  since  last  I 
crossed  the  North  River  at  New  York,"  remarked  Mr.  Green- 
leaf. 

"Yes,"  was  the  reply,  "but  you  see  only  improvements. 
The  ferryboats  are  larger  and  you  might  almost  say  clum- 
sier; that  is  all." 

"I  do  not  think  so,"  returned  the  missionary.  "There 
must  be  some  new  invention  to  enable  entire  trains,  with 
cars  filled  with  passengers,  to  be  carried  across  such  a  river 
as  this." 


TRAVEL — MODERN  WATER  TRAVEL.         233 

"Of  course,"  said  his  nephew,  "the  boat  must  be  strong 
and  large.  However,  the  ferry  docks  have  been  improved. 
Now,  when  the  boat  is  fastened,  the  wharf  can  be  raised  and 
lowered,  until  it  is  exactly  on  the  level  of  the  boat.  Then 
not  only  passengers,  but  wagons  and  steam  cars  can  pass 
from  one  to  the  other  almost  without  knowledge  of  the 
change." 

"  How  far  have  these  cars  come  that  I  see  on  the  ferry?  " 

"That,"  said  the  drummer,  "is  one  of  the  through  trains 
from  Montreal  to  Chicago.  The  ferryboat  next  beyond, 
going  the  other  way,  bears  a  train  containing  cars  bound  for 
New  York  and  Boston." 

"Well,  well!  This  is  convenient,"  said  the  missionary. 
"  The  passengers  are  saved  much  trouble  by  not  being  re- 
quired to  gather  up  all  their  traveling  bundles,  leave  the  cars 
for  the  boat,  and  the  boat  for  a  new  set  of  cars.  We  should 
have  thought  this  a  great  gain,  forty  years  ago." 

"  But  do  you  realize  what  an  inconvenience  this  ferry 
causes?  Much  time  is  wasted,  not  only  because  of  the  slow 
movement  of  the  boats,  but  also  from  the  necessary  delays  in 
embarking  and  disembarking  the  cars." 

"Yes,  I  suppose  so.  But  what  would  you  do?  Here  is 
the  river  and  it  is  too  wide  for  a  bridge." 

"Oh,  no!"  replied  Mr.  Towne.  "The  bridge  could  be 
built,  but  it  would  be  expensive  and  would  not  pay.  But 
what  do  you  think  of  a  tunnel?  " 

"A  tunnel?  What  do  you  mean?  "  said  the  other  man, 
with  a  touch  of  surprise  in  his  voice  for  the  first  time.  "  A 
tunnel?  Where?  Not  under  the  river? 

"Yes,"  answered  his  nephew,  "a  tunnel  under  the  river. 
There  is  one,  a  few  miles  north,  at  Port  Huron.  There  the 
train,  instead  of  being  delayed  hours  by  the  ferry,  passes  at 


234 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 


almost  full  speed  directly  tinder  the  river,  proceeding  on  its 
way  as  though  the  river  were  not  there." 

"  Is  not  that  something  new?  "  asked  Mr.  Greenleaf. 
"  Yes.     It  was  opened  only  a  half-dozen  years  ago.     It  is 
said  to  be  the  greatest  river  tunnel  in  the  world.     It  is  a  lit- 
tle over  a  mile  long  and  is  fifteen  feet  below  the  bed  of  the 

St.  Clair  River.  Half  a 
mile  of  it  is  directly  un- 
der the  water,  yet  no  one 
passing  through  it  would 
realize  that  it  was  differ- 
ent from  any  one  of  the 
hundreds  of  tunnels 
through  which  the  rail- 
roads of  this  country 
pass.  It  is  but  a  natural 

A  RIVER  TUNNEL.  following    out    of    such 

tunnels  as  the  five-mile 

tunnel  under  the  Hoosac  Mountains  in  Massachusetts,  or  the 
three-quarter-mile  tunnels  in  Jersey  City,  or  the  score  of 
tunnels  on  the  line  of  the  Southern  Railway  over  the  Blue 
Ridge  in  North  Carolina.  It  is  a  great  tunnel  to-day,  of 
course,  but  when  the  North  River  tunnel  is  finished,  from 
New  York  to  Jersey  City,  this  will  be  of  little  account  in 
comparison." 

Detroit  was  soon  left,  Lake  Erie  was  reached,  and  night 
came  on.  The  next  morning  the  steamboat  reached  its 
journey's  end  at  Buffalo.  Our  friends  hastened  across  the 
city  and  were  soon  seated  in  a  sleeper,  on  the  train  for  New 
York. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

MODERN   LAND  TRAVEL. 

SOON  after  the  train  had  started  from  the  Buffalo  station 
conversation  began  between  Mr.  Greenleaf  and  his  nephew. 
"  The  steam  is  the  same  as  in  my  day,"  remarked  the  former; 
"the  steam  pushes  the  piston  in  just  the  same  way;  there  is 
no  change  in  this  direction.  But  all  else  is  new." 

"Yes,"  said  the  drummer,  "you  must  see  great  changes; 
tell  me  some  of  them." 

"  Very  well,"  was  the  reply.  "  The  most  noticeable  thing 
about  a  railroad  train  used  to  be  the  jerking  motion.  We 
seemed  to  be  going  *  bump-i-ty-bump  *  all  the  time ;  and  start- 
ing and  stopping  a  train  would  often  throw  us  off  our  feet." 

"Various  improvements,"  said  Mr.  Towne,  "have  helped 
to  produce  this  easy-riding  motion.  The  roadbeds  are  laid 
with  much  greater  care — long  experience  and  numerous  ex- 
periments have  provided  us  with  the  best  rails;  but  more 
especially  the  absence  of  jar  is  due  to  steel  springs,  and  also 
to  the  breaks  and  couplers.  When  one  car  was  attached  to 
another  by  two  bolts  thrust  through  a  ring,  nothing  was  firm, 
as  the  bolts  would  slide  forward  and  back  with  every  motion 
of  the  car.  The  new  automatic  couplers  hold  the  two  cars 
more  firmly  together.  Again,  the  old  hand  brakes  have  been 
replaced  by  the  automatic  air  brake." 

"  Yes,  I  have  heard  of  that,  but  I  do  not  understand  it. 
Can  you  explain  it  to  me  ?  " 


236  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

"  I  think  so.  George  Westinghouse,  Jr. ,  about  thirty 
years  ago,  took  out  a  patent  for  the  air  brake.  This  alone 
has  been  enough  to  make  him  famous,  although  he  has  twelve 
hundred  patents  issued  in  his  name.  The  Westinghouse  air 
brake  is  now  almost  universally  used.  Some  of  the  surplus 
steam  in  the  locomotive  pumps  air  into  tanks  in  the  cars, 
which  air  presses  upon  a  piston,  that  moves  a  rod  against  the 
brakes.  Thus  the  brakes  can  be  held  against  the  wheels 
with  great  force  at  the  will  of  the  engineer." 

"  Well,  the  next  thing  that  I  notice,"  said  the  missionary, 
"  is  the  improved  comfort  of  the  passengers.  The  cinders 
filled  the  cars  in  the  old  days;  the  air  within  was  always 
bad;  the  candles  gave  more  smoke  than  light;  and  in  win- 
ter, the  stoves  at  the  end  of  the  cars  gave  no  heat  in  the 
center." 

"Yes,  all  that  is  changed,"  replied  the  younger  man. 
"  Spark  arresters  keep  out  the  cinders ;  the  overhead  ventila- 
tors give  us  good  air ;  bright  light,  almost  like  that  of  day, 
surrounds  us  in  the  evening;  and,  when  wanted,  the  engine 
supplies  steam  in  pipes  running  the  entire  length  of  the  car, 
which  gives  even  and  ample  heat." 

"This  car  is  wider  than  ours  used  to  be,  is  it  not?  "  que- 
ried Mr.  Greenleaf. 

"  Yes,"  was  the  reply.  "  When  the  first  Pullman  sleeping 
car,  the  l  Pioneer, '  was  run  on  the  Chicago  and  Alton  Rail- 
road, it  was  wider  and  higher  than  the  ordinary  coaches. 
Several  bridges  had  to  be  raised  to  allow  the  car  to  pass  un- 
der ;  and  all  the  station  platforms  were  altered  to  permit  it  to 
pass.  Since  then,  as  Pullmans  and  Wagners  have  come  into 
use  on  so  many  roads,  many  changes  in  bridges  have  been 
found  necessary,  and  station  platforms  have  almost  univer- 
sally been  cut  down  to  the  ground." 


TRAVEL — MODERN    LAND    TRAVEL. 


237 


"Did  I  understand  you  to  say  that  this  is  a  sleeper?" 
asked  Mr.  Greenleaf.  "  Our  sleeping  cars,  few  and  far  be- 
tween as  they  were,  had  berths  or  bunks  three  tiers  high, 
fitted  in  on  each  side  of  the  car,  making  it  useless  except  to 
sleep  in." 

"That  was  the  great  feature  of  Mr.  Pullman's  invention," 
was  the  reply.  "  He  saw  that  few  railroad  companies  would 
care  to  go  to  the  ex- 
pense of  running  cars 
which  could  only  be 
used  for  sleeping  pur- 
poses. He  was  famil- 
iar with  the  '  old-fash- 
ion e  d,  stuffy  cars, 
where  men  sat  in  stiff- 
backed  seats  and  dozed 
and  yawned  and  waited 
for  morning.  By  put- 
ting people  to  sleep 
this  wide-awake  man 
made  a  fortune.'  You 
are  sitting  on  the  bed 
now.  But  here  comes 

the    porter  to   make  up  the  berths  next  to  us.     The   lady 
wishes  to  put  her  little  boy  to  sleep." 

With  much  interest  Mr.  Greenleaf  watched  the  porter 
make  a  sleeping  room  out  of  d  sitting  room.  In  a  trice  the 
cushions  in  the  seats  and  backs  were  twisted  about  and  laid 
from  seat  to  seat,  making  a  bed.  With  a  jump,  the  porter 
stood  on  the  arm  of  the  seat,  and  turned  a  knob  in  the  roof. 
Down  came  another  bed,  a  few  feet  above  the  first.  From 
this  was  pulled  a  triangular  board  which-  was  placed  between 


A  PULLMAN  SLEEPER. 


238  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

the  beds  and  the  next  seats.  Sheets,  blankets,  and  pillows, 
which  had  been  shut  up  in  the  roof,  were  soon  properly 
spread  out,  and  two  good  beds  were  the  result.  Curtains 
were  found  above  the  upper  bed,  which,  hung  upon  poles, 
shut  the  beds  off  from  the  car  aisle.  Behind  these  the  moth- 
er undressed  her  child  and  put  him  to  bed. 

Just  at  this  moment  a  man  went  through  the  car  crying 
"First  call  for  dinner."  Mr.  Towne  immediately  jumped 
to  his  feet  and  said,  "  Let  us  go  and  get  good  seats.'* 

"You  have  forgotten  your  hat,  Henry,"  said  his  uncle. 

"I  don't  need  it.     Come,  hurry,"  said  Henry. 

Perplexed,  the  old  man  followed  his  nephew  through 
three  cars  to  the  dining  car,  where  they  were  soon  seated 
at  a  little  table,  in  front  of  a  large  window,  from  which 
everything  they  passed  could  be  seen.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  describe  the  dining  room,  for  it  was  merely  a 
well-furnished  restaurant.  The  men  ordered  what  they 
desired,  and  settled  back  to  wait  until  their  dinner  was 
brought  on. 

"  How  is  it,  Henry,  that  we  did  not  feel  the  wind  as  we 
passed  from  car  to  car?  You  hurried  me  so  fast  that  I  did 
not  have  time  to  notice." 

"Don't  you  see,"  said  the  drummer,  "how  attaching  a 
dining  car  to  a  train  required  another  change  also?  There 
used  to  be  a  rule  of  every  railroad  company  forbidding  the 
passengers  to  go  from  car  to  car  while  the  train  was  in  mo- 
tion. When  the  company  put  on  the  '  diner,'  it  invited  the 
people  to  break  its  own  rule.  So  vestibule  cars  came  next. 
Side  doors  are  built  on  the  car  platforms  and  with  these 
closed  the  regular  car  doors  can  be  left  open.  Thus  one  can 
walk  the  entire  length  of  the  train,  through  sleeper,  parlor 
car,  dining  car,  smoking  saloon,  library,  bath  room,  barber 


TRAVEL — MODERN    LAND   TRAVEL. 


239 


shop,  and  writing  room,  without  once  going  out  of  doors. 
This  is  a  modern  vestibule  train." 

One    more   interesting  discussion   took    place   the    next 
morning  as  they  were  nearing  New  York  City. 

"Tell  me  something  about  modern    bridges,"  said  Mr. 
Greenleaf. 

"  Oh !  I  am  afraid  that  is  too  long  a  story  to  tell  during 
the  time  that  we  have  left.  There  seems  to  be  no  limit 
to  the  engineering  skill  of 
to-day.  The  world-famous 
structures  are  being  sur- 
passed every  little  while  by 
new  ones.  To-morrow  you 
must  see  the  Brooklyn 
Bridge.  We  have  supposed 
that  this  great  suspension 
bridge  with  its  sixteen  hun- 
dred feet  from  tower  to 
tower  was  about  the  limit. 


BROOKLYN    BRIDGE. 


But    the    cantilever   bridge 

over  the  Forth  in  Scotland 

has  a  span  more  than  a  hundred  feet  longer  than  the  East 

River   bridge.     When  the    North   River  bridge  is  built  to 

Jersey  City,  with  its  proposed  span  of  three  thousand  feet, 

these  other  great  bridges  will  be  small  in  comparison. 

"  Our  bridges  are  mostly  of  steel  rather  than  wood  nowa- 
days," he  continued.  "Since  the  Portage  viaduct  on  the 
Erie  road,  which  was  eight  hundred  feet  long  and  two  hun- 
dred and  thirty  feet  above  the  river,  and  contained  a  million 
and  a  half  feet  of  lumber,  was  wholly  burned  in  1875,  wood- 
en bridges  have  usually  been  but  temporary  affairs.  In  these 
days  of  frequent  trains,  the  engineer's  skill  is  needed  on  the 


240  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

shorter  bridges  as  well  as  on  these  enormous  structures.  Iron 
towers  were  put  in  place  of  stone  towers,  and  iron  beams  in 
place  of  wooden  ones,  at  the  Niagara  Suspension  Bridge, 
without  interfering  with  the  trains.  I  read  the  other  day 
how  a  new  iron  bridge  took  the  place  of  an  old  wooden  one. 
It  was  built  across  the  river  by  the  side  of  the  railroad  track ; 
during  the  night,  when  there  was  less  travel  than  during  the 
daytime,  the  old  bridge  was  moved  off,  the  new  one  took  its 
place,  and  in  a  few  minutes  trains  were  running  over  it. 
Whatever  engineering  work  is  needed  nowadays,  some  one 
will  soon  be  found  prepared  to  provide  it." 

At  last  the  train  entered  the  long  cut  and  series  of  tun- 
nels, which  finally  brought  it  to  the  Grand  Central  station  on 
Forty-Second  Street,  New  York  City.  Hurried  along  by  the 
crowd,  the  aged  sightseer  hardly  had  an  opportunity  to  make  a 
remark  about  the  immensity  and  grandeur  of  the  brick  station. 

"But  this  station  is  poor  and  far  behind  the  times,"  said 
Mr.  Towne.  "  You  should  see  some  of  the  more  modern 
ones  that  have  recently  been  erected,  or  wait  for  the  new  New 
York  station,  which  must  soon  be  built.  But  let  us  hasten; 
I  want  to  get  home." 

The  young  drummer,  accustomed  to  travel  of  all  kinds, 
familiar  with  crowds,  and  wont  to  make  his  way  anywhere, 
did  not  realize  that  his  companion  was  having  difficulty  in 
keeping  up  with  him  as  he  hastened  along  the  street.  Re- 
ceiving no  answer  to  a  question  that  he  asked,  he  glanced 
around  to  find  that  his  uncle  was  not  with  him.  Inwardly 
accusing  himself  of  remissness  in  forgetting  his  companion's 
lack  of  experience,  he  turned  and  rapidly  retraced  his  steps. 
He  found  his  uncle  standing  on  a  corner,  not  daring  to  cross 
the  street;  to  the  relief  of  the  latter,  he  decided  to  take  a 
horse  car  across  toYja. 


TRAVEL — MODERN    LAND    TRAVEL.  241 

Leaving  the  car  at  Sixth  Avenue,  the  two  men  climbed 
the  stairs  to  the  elevated  road.  They  had  hardly  purchased 
their  tickets  when  a  train  drew  up  at  the  little  station  and  a 
minute  afterward  they  were  off  for  Harlem.  The  horse-car 
ride,  followed  by  that  on  the  elevated  road,  started  a  discus- 
sion concerning  street-car  traffic.  The  horse  car  was  remem- 
bered by  the  old  missionary,  who  remarked  that  it  came  be- 
fore the  steam  railroad. 

Mr.  Towne  replied,  "Yes.  But  its  day  is  nearly  over. 
New  York  City  does  not  seem  to  have  fully  outgrown  this 
slow  street  travel,  but  elsewhere  more  rapid  transit  is  the 
rule.  New  York  is  coming  to  it,  however.  The  elevated 
roads  cannot  carry  all  the  travel — the  horse  cars  are  too  slow 
— the  size  of  the  city  demands  something  more  than  we  now 
have." 

"What  do  you  expect  will  be  done?"  asked  Mr.  Green- 
leaf. 

"  We  shall  have  to  build  a  tunnel,  an  underground  rail- 
way, a  subway.  Of  course  our  roads  must  be  either  above 
ground,  on  the  ground  level,  or  below  ground.  The  elevated 
roads  have  shown  themselves  to  be  unpleasant  and  annoying. 
It  is  not  agreeable  to  look  into  the  upper-story  windows  of 
dwellings,  nor  do  people  enjoy  living  on  streets  where  the 
elevated  road  runs.  Rapid  transit  is  impossible  in  the 
street,  where  cross  streets  continually  delay  the  cars,  and 
where  wagons  and  carriages  of  all  sorts  are  regularly  pass- 
ing. The  subway  is  the  best  method,  the  only  decent  way 
left  open." 

"  Would  not  such  a  tunnel  be  dark  and  damp,  dirty  and 
unhealthy  in  every  sense?  "  asked  his  uncle. 

"Oh!    no,"  was    the  reply.     "Boston  has  recently  com- 
pleted a  subway,  something  like  a  mile  and  a  half  long,  with 
16 


242 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 


two  branches,  which  has  proved  its  great  advantages.  Shel- 
tered in  winter,  cool  in  summer,  never  blocked  by  teams  nor 
interfered  with  by  snow  or  ice,  brilliantly  lighted*  with  air 
wholesome  and  dry,  and  less  liable  to  accidents  than  any 

other  device  yet  test- 
ed, the  Boston  Sub- 
way is  a  great  suc- 
cess. 

"  Did  you  say  that 
there  was  no  smoke  ?" 
again  asked  Mr. 
Greenleaf. 

"  No  smoke  at  all. 
The  cars  are  run  by 
electricity,  and  cin- 
ders are  therefore 
entirely  absent." 

"Are  electric  cars  coming  into  general  use?"  was  the 
next  question. 

"Yes;  throughout  the  country,"  replied  Mr.  Towne. 
"  New  York  even  now  has  its  electric  roads  up  town.  Horse 
cars  have  been  replaced  by  electric  cars  in  almost  every  city. 
Cable  cars  are  used  in  some  places,  but  the  electric  is  pre- 
ferred. The  last  few  years  have  seen  a  wonderful  develop- 
ment in  electricity  in  every  way,  but  in  no  respect  greater 
than  in  the  increase  of  electric  railways.  For  shorter  lines 
they  are  competing  with  the  steam  cars,  and  seem  to  be  win- 
ning the  day.  Some  steam  roads  are  equipping  their  lines 
for  electric  service,  and  report  successful  results  so  far  as 
tried.  Whether  the  electric  car  will  wholly  replace  the 
steam  car,  time  only  will  tell." 

"  What  a  relief  it  must  be  to  ride  in  a  street  car  and  not 


THE  BOSTON  SUBWAY. 


MODERN    LAND    TRAVEL.  243 

be  obliged  to  pity  the  poor  horses  as  they  tug  and  strain  to 
pull  the  heavy  loads!  "  added  the  old  missionary. 

"You  know,  I  suppose,"  replied  the  drummer,  "that  not 
only  from  the  street  cars,  but  in  other  ways  the  horse  is  being 
retired.  The  bicycle  has  supplanted  the  horse  and  buggy 
for  use  in  thousands  of  families,  besides  being  where  horses 
could  never  be  afforded.  And  now  we  have  automobiles, 
or  horseless  carriages,  run  by  gasoline,  naphtha,  or  electric 


ELECTRIC  CAR,   NEW  YORK  CITY. 

motors.  These  are  expensive,  and  comparatively  few  can 
yet  afford  them  for  private  use.  They  are  being  used  to  a 
considerable  extent  in  large  cities,  especially  here  in  New 
York,  for  public  service  or  for  the  delivery  of  goods  from  our 
large  stores.  But  the  expenses  will  gradually  lessen,  and 
perhaps  the  day  when  the  horse  is  to  rest  has  begun." 

"All  this  is  wonderful,"  remarked  his  uncle.     "We  may 
walk  still,  if  we  wish.     We  may  ride  a  horse  or  drive  a  car- 


244  AMERICAN    INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

riage.  We  may  take  the  stagecoach,  or  a  private  coach,  or 
tally-ho.  We  may  journey  across  the  continent  in  palace 
steam  cars.  We  may  ride  through  a  city  on  horse  cars,  or 
cable  cars,  or  electric  cars.  We  may  travel  on  elevated 
tracks  or  underground.  We  may  pedal  our  bicycles  or  ride 
in  horseless  carriages.  We  find  good  carriage  roads,  and 
excellent  roadbeds  for  our  railroads.  Bridges  and  tunnels 
carry  us  over  and  under  rivers,  across  ravines  and  through 
mountains.  On  the  water,  the  canoe  and  the  rowboat,  the 
sailing  vessel  and  the  steamship,  are  at  our  disposal.  Naph- 
tha launches  and  electric  yachts  glide  across  the  water.  Har- 
bors are  dredged,  lighthouses  are  erected,  breakwaters  are 
constructed,  and  canals  are  built,  all  for  the  use  of  travelers 
and  commerce.  The  last  years  of  the  nineteenth  century 
form  ^n  era  in  travel  of  which  the  world  never  dreamed." 


SAMUEL  F.  B.   MORSE. 


SECTION  VI.-LETTERS. 


SECTION  VI.— LETTERS. 

CHAPTER   I. 

LANGUAGE. 

WHAT  is  the  difference  between  a  dog  and  a  boy,  or, 
rather,  what  is  the  difference  between  the  brute  creation  and 
mankind?  It  is  as  natural  for  a  dog  to  think  as  for  a  boy; 
he  sees  and.  hears  and  touches,  smells  and  tastes  as  well  as 
does  the  boy;  he  remembers  and,  in  a  certain  way,  he  may 
be  said  to  reason ;  he  loves  and  hates  and  fears ;  he  is  pleased 
and  frightened ;  is  revengeful ;  has  his  likes  and  dislikes,  his 
tastes  and  prejudices;  indeed,  a  dog,  or  a  horse,  or  an  ele- 
phant has  many  points  of  resemblance  to  a  boy  or  a  man. 
But  there  are  essential  points  of  difference. 

One  of  the  most  important  differences  is  that  man  has  the 
power  of  speech  which  is  not  possessed  by  the  brute  creation. 
This  power  of  speech  is  a  great  boon  to  mankind,  one  held 
in  common  by  all  peoples  in  all  ages. 

Talking  or  conversation  suggests  at  least  two  persons,  the 
speaker  and  the  hearer,  and  involves  the  use  of  the  vocal 
organs  on  the  part  of  the  talker  and  the  ear,  the  instrument 
of  hearing,  on  the  part  of  the  listener.  This  power  of  com- 
municating thought,  as  has  been  said,  is  universal  with  the 
human  race. 

In  childhood  one  learns  the  language  of  his  parents  and 
of  the  people  where  he  lives.  In  this  country,  Great  Britain, 


248  AMERICAN   INVENTORS   AND    INVENTIONS. 

Canada,  and  Australia,  most  of  the  people  speak  the  English 
language;  in  France,  the  French  tongue;  in  Russia,  the  Rus- 
sian; in  Germany,  the  German;  in  Turkey,  the  Arabic;  and 
so  on.  This  common  speech  forms  a  great  bond  of  unity 
between  all  people  of  the  same  race,  and  by  means  of  it  we 
communicate  our  ideas  one  to  another. 

There  is  another  language  differing  widely  from  the  gift 
of  speech,  yet  quite  as  important  for  the  welfare  of  the 
human  race.  Barbarous  and  savage  tribes  are  dependent 
upon  speech  alone,  but  in  civilized  countries  the  people  have 
acquired  another  art,  that  of  writing,  or  of  using  a  written 
language.  In  speech  arbitrary  sounds  represent  ideas.  In 
writing  arbitrary  symbols  or  characters,  called  letters  and. 
words,  are  used.  They  are  observed  by  the  eye  and  not  by 
the  ear.  This  written  language  is  as  extended,  as  sharp,  as 
definite,  as  full  and  complete,  as  is  the  language  of  speech. 
Moreover,  it  has  a  great  advantage  over  speech.  Words  can 
be  spoken  only  to  a  person  immediately  present,  but  words 
can  be  written  and  conveyed  to  one  who  is  absent.  No 
matter  how  far  apart  two  persons  are,  each  can  communicate 
his  ideas  to  the  other  just  as  well  as  if  they  were  near. 

This  written  language  has  still  greater  usefulness.  By 
means  of  it  wise  men  of  all  countries  who  have  had  great 
thoughts,  thoughts  of  value  to  the  whole  human  race,  have 
been  enabled  to  put  those  thoughts  into  a  permanent  form. 
Thus  they  have  been  preserved  and  handed  down  from  gen- 
eration to  generation,  so  that  we  inherit  to-day  the  wealth  of 
all  the  ages.  We  can  make  ourselves  familiar  with  the  great 
thoughts  uttered  by  Jesus,  by  Socrates,  Aristotle,  Shake- 
speare, Milton,  Burke,  Patrick  Henry,  Daniel  Webster, 
Emerson,  Longfellow,  and  countless  others,  so  that  they  be- 
come our  own  property.  Moreover,  when  the  eye  gathers 


LETTERS — LANGUAGE. 


249 


up  these  grand  truths  from  the  printed  page,  they  are  not 
absorbed,  they  still  remain  there.  They  may  be  used  and 
transmitted  again  and  again  in  the  same  book  and  upon  the 
same  page,  even  to  future  generations. 

On  one  occasion  King  Solomon  said :  "  Of  making  many 
books  there  is  no  end,  and  much  study  is  a  weariness  of  the 
flesh."  The  second  part 
of  this  sentence  is  cer- 
tainly very  true,  but  that 
is  not  saying  anything 
against  study,  for  any- 
thing that  is  worth  doing 
is  a  cause  of  weariness. 
When  we  get  weary  the 
best  thing  is  to  get  thor- 
oughly rested,  and  after 
that  to  work  until  we  be- 
come weary  again.  It  does 

not  injure  a  strong,  well  person  to  get  healthily  tired;  on 
the  contrary,  the  weariness  which  comes  from  normal  exer- 
cise of  the  hands  or  the  brain  is  better  than  inactive  ease. 

What  did  Solomon  mean  when  he  made  this  sage  remark, 
"  Of  making  many  books  there  is  no  end  "  ?  Under  what 
circumstances  was  the  remark  made?  We  may  not  be  able 
to  answer  the  last  question  literally,  but  we  may  be  permitted 
to  imagine  the  circumstances.  Let  us  suppose  that  the  Queen 
of  Sheba  had  made  her  famous  visit  to  Jerusalem.  She  had 
heard  in  her  own  country  of  the  acts  and  the  wisdom  of  Solo- 
mon, and  had  come  to  the  kingdom  of  Israel  to  see,  with  her 
own  eyes,  if  these  reports  were  true.  She  heard  his  wisdom 
from  his  own  lips,  for  he  "told  her  all  her  questions." 

Then  the  Queen  of  Sheba  had  said  to  Solomon :  "  It  was  a 


ANCIENT  IMPLEMENTS  OF  WRITING. 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

true  report  which  I  heard  in  mine  own  land  of  thine  acts,  and 
of  thy  wisdom :  howbeit,  I  believed  not  their  words,  until  I 
came,  and  mine  eyes  had  seen  it:  and,  behold,  the  one  half 
of  the  greatness  of  thy  wisdom  was  not  told  me ;  for  thou 
exceedest  the  fame  that  I  heard.  Happy  are  thy  men,  and 
happy  are  these  thy  servants,  which  stand  continually  before 
thee,  and  hear  thy  wisdom.  Blessed  be  the  Lord  thy  God, 
which  delighted  in  thee  to  set  thee  on  his  throne,  to  be  king 
for  the  Lord  thy  God." 

The  Queen  had  gone  home,  and  early  one  morning  Solo- 
mon had  risen  from  his  couch  and  gone  up  to  the  flat  roof 
of  his  house  on  Mount  Zion  just  as  the  sun  was  rising. 
There  in  his  meditations  he  thought  to  himself  that  the 
Queen  of  Sheba  had  paid  him  great  honor  and  that  he  ought 
in  courtesy  to  send  her  a  suitable  present.  What  should  it 
be?  He  was  impressed  with  the  idea  that  he  would  send  her 
a  copy  of  the  sacred  books  then  in  the  keeping  of  the  high 
priest.  What  present  could  be  more  appropriate,  more  hon- 
orable to  him,  more  welcome  to  her,  or  more  acceptable  to 
Jehovah,  the  God  of  his  people  Israel? 

If  he  sent  her  a  copy  of  these  books  it  surely  ought  to  be 
a  perfect  copy.  Books  were  not  printed  in  those  days ;  they 
were  written  with  the  pen,  or  rather  with  the  stylus.  Solomon 
called  a  servant  and  said  to  him,  "Send  for  the  chief  of  the 
scribes.  Bring  him  here."  He  came,  and  the  king  directed 
him  to  select  only  those  scribes  that  could  do  perfect  work, 
and  to  set  them  at  the  task  of  making  the  finest  possible 
copy  of  the  books  of  Moses  and  the  other  sacred  books. 

Month  after  month  went  by,  until  finally  the  work  was 
finished  and  the  scribes  were  ushered  into  the  royal  presence, 
bearing  in  their  arms  the  product  of  their  long-continued 
labor.  Roll  after  roll  of  the  finest  parchment  was  submitted 


LETTERS — LANGUAGE. 


251 


to  Solomon  for  inspection.  Each  skin  began  with  an  illumi- 
nated letter,  and  the  whole  work  was  done  in  the  highest 
style  of  the  art. 

Well  pleased  was  Solomon  when  these  rolls  were  all  prop- 
erly packed,  secured  from   rain,  placed  upon  the  backs  of 
camels,  and  the  caravan,  with  a  military  escort,  had  set  out 
for  the  distant  land 
of    Sheba.      Then 
again  in  the  gray  of 
the    morning    Solo- 
mon was  at  his  medi- 
tations   upon    the 
housetop.     Again  he 
called    a    messenger 
who  should  summon 
to   his  presence   the 
chief  of  the  scribes. 

"What  was  the 
cost  of  making  the 
copy  of  our  sacred 
writings  for  the 
Queen  of  Sheba? 
How  many  shekels 
have  been  paid  to 
the  scribes  for  their 
work?" 

When    the    chief 

scribe  had  found  out  he  reported  it  to  the  king.  "  Is  it  in- 
deed so  much  ?  "  said  the  king ;  and  when  he  had  thought  how 
many  months  it  had  taken  for  that  large  number  of  scribes  to 
make  a  single  copy  of  the  sacred  books,  then  he  exclaimed; 
"  Of  making  many  books  there  is  no  end." 


AN  ANCIENT  SCRIBE. 


CHAPTER  II. 
THE    PRINTING   PRESS. 

THE  times  have  changed  since  King  Solomon's  day.  The 
art  of  printing  has  been  discovered.  Now  it  would  be  possi- 
ble to  make  not  merely  one  copy  but  thousands  of  copies,  not 
only  of  the  sacred  books  of  the  Jews  in  the  time  of  Solomon, 
but  of  the  entire  Bible  as  we  have  it  to-day.  Not  in  the 
months  required  by  the  Jewish  scribes,  but  in  a  single  month, 
thousands  of  copies  of  the  whole  Bible  could  be  printed  from 
the  type  set  in  a  single  establishment  in  Boston,  New  York, 
or  Philadelphia.  Surely,  before  the  art  of  printing  one  might 
truly  say,  "  Of  making  books  there  is  no  end. "  But  to-day  our 
modern  press  sends  out  its  volumes  by  millions,  so  that  no 
longer  is  there  any  truth  in  this  apparently  wise  statement 
of  Solomon.  It  was  true  in  his  day,  but  times  have  changed. 

Two  visitors  were  wending  their  way  through  Machinery 
Hall  at  the  Centennial  Exhibition  in  Philadelphia  in  1876. 
Clatter,  clatter,  clatter. — clatter,  clatter,  clatter — jigger, 
jigger,  jigger — jigger,  jigger,  jigger.  What  was  that  great 
machine  that  they  were  approaching?  It  was  the  Walter 
press,  invented  in  London  for  the  London  Times, — "The 
Thunderer."  Well,  well!  the  press  does  thunder,  literally, 
does  it  not?  It  was  printing  that  day's  issue  of  the  New 
York  Times,  and  there  were  coming  from  that  press  about 
twelve  thousand  copies  of  the  double-size  sheet  in  an  hour. 
Well  might  it  make  a  racket  if  it  accomplished  such  a  work 
as  that. 


LETTERS — THE   PRINTING   PRESS.  253 

After  the  visitors  were  done  admiring  it  they  passed  on, 
and  a  little  beyond  came  suddenly  upon  another  printing 
press  which  was  doing  its  work  in  comparative  silence.  Be- 
fore them  stood  a  double  Hoe  perfecting  press,  printing  the 
Philadelphia  Times  >  turning  off  thirty  thousand  copies  per 
hour.  These  came  out  from  the  machine,  folded  ready  for 
the  wrappers  or  for  the  newsboy  to  take  upon  his  arm  and 
run  out  into  the  street  to  sell !  So  marvelous  was  the  work 
of  the  American  press.  The  original  invention  was  surpris- 
ing, but  the  progress  that  has  been  made  in  making  type, 
setting  it,  electrotyping  and  inking,  and  making  paper,  as 
well  as  in  the  presswork,  is  beyond  the  power  of  description. 

There  are  vague,  indefinite  stories  of  printing  by  the 
Chinese  a  thousand  years  before  Christ.  The  Greeks  and 
Romans  made  metal  stamps  with  characters  engraved  in 
relief.  It  was  not,  however,  until  about  the  middle  of  the 
fifteenth  century  that  movable  types  were  made  with  which 
books  could  be  printed.  The  period  between  1450  and  1500 
witnessed  a  rapid  advance  of  civilization  in  Europe.  It  was 
marked  by  a  great  revival  of  classical  learning  and  art,  and 
announced  the  dawn  of  modern  civilization.  At  that  time 
Europe  began  to  come  out  into  the  light  of  reason,  learning, 
and  both  civil  and  religious  liberty.  The  mariner's  compass 
had  been  invented;  gunpowder  had  been  discovered;  and 
now  the  art  of  printing  came  into  use.  It  would  seem  that 
no  one  man  invented  this  art  in  the  way  that  Stephenson  in- 
vented the  locomotive  and  Whitney  the  cotton  gin.  It  grew 
up,  one  man  doing  a  little,  and  another  something  more,  un- 
til the  system  was  brought  to  its  present  wonderful  efficiency. 

It  has  been  said  that  Coster  of  Haarlem,  Holland,  in- 
vented wooden  types  about  1428  and  metal  types  a  little 
later.  About  1440  John  Faust  did  a  little  printing,  and 


254  AMERICAN    INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

others  also  have  claimed  the  invention.  John  Gutenberg  is 
the  only  claimant  who  is  known  to  have  received  honor  dur- 
ing his  life  time  as  the  true  inventor.  The  evidence  would 
seem  to  show  that  he  was  engaged  in  his  secret  process  before 
the  year  1440.  He  certainly  had  a  printing  office  in  1448  at 
Mentz.  About  this  time  Faust  came  into  possession  of  this 
printing  office  and  managed  it  until  his  death.  Among  the 
earliest  books  printed  were,  "Letters  of  Indulgence,'  two 
editions  of  the  Bible,  and  a  Latin  dictionary. 

John  Baskerville,  an  Englishman,  devoted  his  life  and 
fortune  to  the  improvement  of  printing.  He  was  born  in 
1706  and  died  in  1775.  He  published  an  edition  of  Vergil  in 
royal  quarto,  which  was  then  and  is  still  considered  a  wonder- 
ful specimen  of  beautiful  printing.  His  English  Bible,  Book 
of  Common  Prayer,  and  editions  of  various  classics  are  still 
admired  and  greatly  sought.  A  Baskerville  classic  is  difficult 
to  find  in  these  days  and  it  commands  a  high  price ;  when 
one  is  found  it  shows  great  skill,  judgment,  and  taste. 

Baskerville  made  types  much  superior  in  distinctness  and 
elegance  to  any  that  had  previously  been  used.  He  improved 
greatly  the  lines  of  the  letters,  their  style  and  appearance, 
making  them  as  artistic  as  possible.  To  this  end  he  planned 
in  detail  the  style  of  all  type  which  he  used.  He  experi- 
mented also  in  the  manufacture  of  ink  to  get  that  which  had 
the  most  permanent  color.  He  superintended  the  manu- 
facture of  the  paper  he  used  in  order  to  obtain  a  finished  sur- 
face best  adapted  to  receive  the  impressions  of  the  type. 

Printing  in  America  during  the  colonial  days  was  subject 
to  much  difficulty.  The  first  printing  press  in  our  country 
was  set  up  at  Cambridge  in  the  house  of  the  president  of 
Harvard  College,  Rev.  Henry  Dunster,  in  1639.  Eliot's 
Bible  in  the  Indian  language  was  printed  upon  this  press  be- 


LETTERS — THE   PRINTING   PRESS. 


255 


tween  1660  and  1663.  This  same  printing  establishment  is 
still  in  existence  and  has  been  known  for  many  years  as  the 
University  Press. 

The  first  Bible  printed  in  America  in  any  European 
language  was  a  German  Bible  issued  in  1 743  by  Christopher 
Sower  in  Germantown, 
Pennsylvania.  This  was  a 
wonderful  work  for  those 
early  days.  It  was  a  large 
quarto  Bible,  consisting  of 
1,284  pages,  and  it  took  four 
years  to  complete  the  print- 
ing of  it. 

How  quaint  the  early 
printing  press  would  appear 
to  us  of  to-day!  It  wks 
used  with  very  little  change 
for  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years.  The  "  forms  "  of  type 
were  placed  upon  wood  or 
stone  beds  surrounded  by 
frames  called  "coffins," 
moved  in  and  out  by  hand 

with  great  labor,  and  after  each  impression  the  platen  which 
had  pressed  the  paper  down  upon  the  type  had  to  be  screwed 
up  again  with  a  bar.  The  presses  which  Benjamin  Franklin 
used  were  made  with  wooden  framework  of  the  simplest 
possible  construction.  Iron  frames  were  first  used  in  Eng- 
land just  one  hundred  years  ago. 

Franklin,  in  his  Autobiography,  tells  the  story  of  his  at- 
tempt to  set  up  a  printing  establishment  in  Philadelphia. 
At  first  he  found  it  difficult  to  obtain  any  work,  but  finally 


A  FRANKLIN   PRESS. 


256  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS 

he  was  given  the  job  of  printing  forty  sheets  of  a  "  History  of 
the  Friends."  The  price  offered  was  low,  but  Franklin  and 
his  partner,  Meredith,  decided  to  accept  it  as  a  beginning. 

Franklin  set  up  the  type  for  a  sheet  each  day,  while 
Meredith  "  worked  it  off  at  the  press  "  the  next  day.  The 
type  had  to  be  distributed  every  evening  in  order  that  it 
might  be  ready  for  the  next  day's  composition.  Therefore 
it  was  often  late  at  night  before  Franklin  finished  his  day's 
task,  perhaps  eleven  o'clock  or  even  later. 

Other  little  jobs  came  in  to  delay  the  printers,  but  Frank- 
lin was  determined  to  do  a  sheet  a  day  of  the  history.  One 
night,  just  as  his  work  was  done,  one  of  the  forms  was  ac- 
cidentally broken,  and  two  pages  "reduced  to  pi."  Frank- 
lin, late  as  it  was,  distributed  the  pi  and  composed  the  form 
again  before  going  to  bed. 

Such  industry  and  perseverance  were  sure  to  bring  success 
in  the  end.  Though,  in  the  clubs  and  markets,  every  one 
was  saying  that  the  establishment  must  fail,  since  the  two 
other  printers  in  town  had  barely  enough  to  do,  yet  Dr.  Baird 
was  nearer  right;  he  used  to  say:  "The  industry  of  that 
Franklin  is  superior  to  any  I  ever  saw  of  the  kind ;  I  see  him 
at  work  when  I  go  home  from  the  :lub,  and  he  is  at  work 
again  before  his  neighbors  are  out  of  bed," 

To-day  we  have  a  great  variety  of  printing  presses  which 
embody  both  science  and  art  in  skilful  fashion.  These  range 
from  the  smallest  size  of  hand  presses,  through  numberless 
grades,  varying  in  size,  strength,  power,  rapidity,  and  ease 
of  running,  to  the  modern  newspaper  press  and  folder  and 
the  wonderful  color  printing  press.  One  of  the  newspaper 
presses  will  print  at  one  impression,  from  a  single  set  of 
stereotype  plates,  papers  of  four,  six,  eight,  ten,  twelve, 
fourteen,  or  sixteen  pages,  at  the  rate  of  twelve  thousand 


LETTERS — THE   PRINTING   PRESS.  2 57 

per  hour,  all  cut  at  the  top,  pasted,  and  folded,  with  the 
supplement  inserted  at  its  proper  place.  With  duplicate  sets 
of  plates,  it  will  print  sets  of  four,  six,  or  eight  page  papers 
at  the  rate  of  twenty-four  thousand  per  hour. 

Let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  the  method  of  inking  the 
type.  Until  a  comparatively  recent  date  the  inking  was  all 
done  by  hand,  by  means  of  an  inking  pad.  The  ink  is  now 
spread  over  the  type  with  almost  perfect  regularity  by  means 
of  flexible  rollers. 

Great  improvements  have  been  made  in  typesetting 
Several  late  inventions  largely  take  the  place  of  the  old- 
fashioned  setting  by  hand.  One  of  these  which  is  much 
used  in  newspaper  work,  and  to  some  extent  upon  books  and 
magazines,  is  called  the  linotype.  By  pressing  the  key  of 
the  proper  letter  upon  a  keyboard  arranged  something  like 
a  typewriter,  the  letter  is  pushed  down,  and  when  a  line  of 
letters  and  words  has  been  completed,  and  the  words  prop- 
erly spaced,  this  matrix  is  pressed  down  upon  the  melted 
type  metal.  The  line  is  already  stereotyped  for  use. 

The  recent  processes  of  stereotyping  and  electrotyping 
have  added  greatly  to  the  cheapness,  accuracy,  and  beauty  of 
printing.  Nearly  all  books  formerly  printed  from  movable 
type  are  now  either  stereotyped  or  electrotyped,  so  that  edi- 
tion after  edition  may  be  printed  from  the  same  plates. 

The  art  of  printing  has  been  called  the  "  Divine  Art."  It 
is  "the  art  preservative  of  all  arts."  To  a  large  extent  all 
civilization  depends  upon  the  art  of  printing. 


CHAPTER   III. 
THE   POSTAL  SYSTEM. 

WE  have  already  seen  that  letters  may  be  written  and 
sent  by  mail  to  distant  countries  or  cities.  To  send  a  letter 
to  any  place  in  our  own  country  will  cost  us  but  two  cents ; 
to  any  country  in  Europe,  but  five  cents.  Indeed,  we  may 
send  a  letter  to  any  one  of  the  countries  within  the  postal 
league, — and  this  includes  most  of  the  countries  of  Asia  and 
South  America,  some  parts  of  Africa  and  many  islands  of 
the  sea, — for  the  same  simple  postage  of  five  cents. 

But  the  time  was  when  nothing  of  the  kind  could  have 
been  done.  In  the  "  long  ago "  there  was  no  post-office 
system  in  any  country ;  no  mails,  regular  or  irregular,  were 
sent  from  one  place  to  another. 

The  modern  postal  system  evidently  grew  out  of  the 
practice  among  kings  of  sending  couriers  to  carry  messages 
from  one  to  another.  In  the  early  times  some  powerful 
rulers  organized  a  staff  of  government  couriers.  After  a 
time  it  came  about  that  these  government  couriers  began  to 
carry  letters  from  private  individuals  of  high  rank  to  their 
friends.  So,  in  the  process  of  time,  this  grew  into  a  per- 
manent system ;  that  is,  the  government  couriers  were  ac- 
customed to  carry  private  correspondence  as  well  as  the  mis- 
sives of  the  king. 

This  transmission  of  letters  by  special  couriers  sent  out 
by  the  king  dates  back  to  very  early  times.  Explorations  in 
Egypt  have  brought  to  light  specimens  of  these  letters  dating 


LETTERS — THE   POSTAL   SYSTEM. 

back  to  a  period  of  two  thousand  and  even  three  thousand 
years  ago.  Upon  what  do  you  suppose  those  letters,  sent  so 
long  ago  and  preserved  to  the  present  time,  were  written? 
They  could  not  have  been  written  upon  paper,  for  paper  was 
not  known  in  those  days,  and  could  not  have  been  preserved 
through  so  many  ages ;  neither  were  they  written  upon  parch- 
ment or  upon  the  skins  of  animals.  These  letters  which 
have  stood  the  test  of  time  for  twenty  or  twenty-five  cen- 
turies were  written  upon  tablets  of  clay  or  of  stone. 

The  development  of  the  modern  postal  system  seems  to 
have  been  begun  in  Great  Britain.  Some  of  the  account 
books  of  the  kings  of  England  who  lived  about  six  hundred 
years  ago  have  been  preserved  to  the  present  time.  In  these 
are  found  records  of  letter-carrying  on  regular  lines  and  at 
stated  intervals.  From  this  beginning  the  English  postal 
system  increased  in  efficiency  and  importance;  when  the 
colonists  came  to  America  they  early  made  arrangements  for 
the  carrying  of  letters. 

The  records  of  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  show 
that  in  1639  it  was  enacted  "that  notice  be  given  Richard 
Fairbanks  that  his  house  in  Boston  is  to  be  the  place  ap- 
pointed for  all  letters  which  are  brought  from  beyond  the 
seas  or  are  to  be  sent  thither  to  be  left  with  him,  and  he  is  to 
care  for  them,  that  they  are  to  be  delivered  or  sent  according 
to  the  directions ;  he  is  allowed  for  every  letter  a  penny,  and 
must  answer  all  mistakes  from  his  own  neglect  of  this  kind." 
In  1657  the  colonial  law  of  Virginia  required  "that  every 
planter  was  to  provide  a  messenger  to  convey  the  dispatches 
as  they  arrived,  to  the  next  plantation  and  so  on,  paying  and 
forfeiting  a  hogshead  of  tobacco  for  default." 

In  1672  it  was  agreed  between  some  of  the  colonies  along 
the  coast  that  a  post  be  sent  once  a  month  from  New  York  to 


26O  AMERICAN    INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

Boston.  How  should  we  be  able  to-day  to  transact  business 
tinder  such  conditions?  Now  we  have  many  mails  a  day  be- 
tween these  two  cities.  Gradually  the  postal  system  was  ex- 
tended, and  in  1730,  Colonel  Spotswood  of  Virginia  was 
made  Postmaster-General  of  the  colonies  by  the  British  Gov- 
ernment. In  1753,  Dr.  Franklin  was  made  Postmaster- 
General.  Franklin  was  very  efficient  in  this  office;  he 
visited  nearly  all  of  the  offices  in  the  country  in  person,  and 
introduced  many  improvements.  In  1774,  by  his  loyalty  to 
the  colonies,  Franklin  incurred  the  enmity  of  the  British 
Government  and  was  dismissed  from  the  office.  The  next 
year,  however,  he  was  appointed  Postmaster-General  by  the 
Continental  Congress.  In  1792,  regular  rates  of  letter  post- 
age were  fixed  by  Congress,  based  on  the  distance  to  be  sefffT 

The  writer  remembers  that  when  he  was  a  boy  he  re- 
ceived a  letter  from  his  mother  fifteen  miles  away  for  which 
he  had  to  pay  six  cents  postage.  At  another  time  a  letter 
was  received  from  his  sister  who  was  a  little  over  thirty  miles 
away,  for  which  he  had  to  pay  eight  cents;  and  when  a 
schoolmate  who  lived  more  than  sixty  miles  distant  sent  him 
a  letter,  he  had  to  pay  the  postmaster  ten  cents  in  order  to 
get  it.  These  letters  were  written  on  coarse,  heavy  paper 
with  quill  pens.  The  letter  was  folded,  and  the  fold  of  one 
side  was  tucked  into  the  fold  of  the  other  side  so  as  to  leave 
but  one  thickness  of  paper  outside  of  that  fold.  The  letter 
was  sealed  by  a  wafer  or  by  sealing  wax  dropped  upon  the 
paper  where  the  two  edges  came  together,  and  stamped  with  a 
seal.  On  the  opposite  side  the  letter  was  properly  addressed. 
There  were  no  envelopes  in  those  days. 

See  what,  changes  have  taken  place  within  the  memory  of 
persons  still  living.  To-day  we  write  a  letter,  fold  it,  insert 
it  in  an  envelope,  and  place  on  it  a  two-cent  stamp;  the  car- 


LETTERS — THE    POSTAL   SYSTEM. 


26l 


rier  comes  to  the  house,  puts  the  letter  in  his  pouch,  carries 
it  to  the  post  office,  and  it  is  sent  to  California  or  any  of  the 
United  States,  Mexico  or  Canada,  and  delivered  to  the  per- 
son to  whom  it  is  addressed. 

Postage  stamps  were  not  used  on  mail  matter  by  govern- 
ment direction  until  the  year  1840,  and  it  was  not  until  1847 
that  the  Government  issued  the  first  stamps  for  general  use 
Prior  to  that,  however,  in- 
dividual     postmasters,      on 
their     own     responsibility, 
had  printed  and   sold  post- 
age stamps.     Within  a  few 
years  their  use  became  quite 
general  in  many  countries. 

About  the  year  1850,  it 
was  noticed  that  stamps  of 
different  colors  and  design 
were  received  in  the  mails 
from  various  parts  of  the 
world.  Then  the  idea  of 
collecting  stamps  came  into 

vogue.  After  a  time  children  and  young  people  generally 
began  to  collect  and  to  study  stamps.  Every  minute  varia- 
tion of  paper,  with  style  of  printing,  gum,  water  mark,  and 
other  differences  was  considered  as  making  a  different  issue, 
and  in  some  cases  as  many  as  fifty  distinct  styles  of  a  single 
stamp  have  been  collected. 

An  extra  fee  of  ten  cents  secures  the  immediate  special 
delivery  by  messenger  of  any  letter  thus  sent.  Merchandise 
parcels  can  be  sent  as  well  as  letters  and  papers.  There  is  a 
money  order  system  and  at  the  present  time  a  great  deal  of 
thought  is  put  upon  the  question  of  post-office  savings  banks, 


POSTAGE   STAMPS. 


262 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 


which  have  already  been  successfully  established  in  Great 
Britain  and  other  countries  of  Europe. 

/'By  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  Congress  has 

power  "  to  establish  post- 
offices  and  post-roads." 
Before  roads  were  com- 
mon between  one  State 
and  another,  the  mail 
was  carried  on  horse- 
back. Later,  mail  wag- 
ons were  used  to  con- 
vey the  mails  from  one 
office  to  another.  As 
stagecoaches  multiplied 
they  were  used  as  mail 
wagons,  the  Government 
paying  the  stage  com- 
pany a  sum  of  money 
for  carrying  the  mail 
pouches. 

The  general  intro- 
duction of  railroads 
modified  this  system  of 
mail  carriage.  Almost 
every  railroad  has  be- 
come a  postal  road,  the  mail  being  carried  upon  its  trains. 
Most  of  the  trains  upon  the  main  lines  of  railroads  have  each 
a  postal  car  fitted  up  with  the  proper  conveniences  for  re- 
ceiving and  delivering  the  mail  at  the  various  stations  and 
sorting  it  while  the  train  is  movingy 

Suppose  a  mail  pouch  to  be  received  at  New  Haven ;  be- 
fore reaching  Bridgeport  its  contents  are  sorted ;  all  that  is 


ASSORTING  MAIL  ON  THE  TRAIN. 


LETTERS — THE   POSTAL   SYSTEM.  263 

to  go  to  Bridgeport  is  put  into  a  separate  pouch  and  dropped 
off  at  that  place ;  that  which  is  to  go  to  Greenwich  is  put  into 
another  pouch  and  left  there,  and  so  on.  The  mail  of  New 
York  City  is  put  into  various  pouches  according  to  its  desti- 
nation. The  mail  matter  for  the  sub-offices,  like  Station  A 
and  Station  B,  is  put  into  separate  pouches  and  sent  from  the 
railroad  station  on  42 d  Street  directly  to  these  offices,  while 
that  for  the  central  office  is  so  sorted  that  there  is  no  delay 
in  sending  it  out  after  its  arrival  at  the  office.  The  letters 
for  lock  boxes  are  placed  together  by  sections,  while  those 
for  carriers  are  put  up  in  divisions  so  as  to  be  delivered  at  once 
to  the  several  carriers.  Meantime  mail  matter  which  is  to  go 
beyond  New  York  is  put  into  proper  pouches  so  that  one  can 
be  dropped  off  at  Trenton,  another  at  Philadelphia,  and  so  on. 

It  will  readily  be  seen  that  vast  improvements  have  been 
made  in  postal  arrangements.  The  condition  of  the  United 
States  postal  system  has  been  greatly  improved  each  year. 
It  seems  almost  marvelous  that  the  mail  service  is  so  reliable 
and  that  the  transmission  of  mail  matter  is  so  expeditious  and 
satisfactory.  If  mail  matter  should  happen  to  be  lost,  which 
is  very  rarely  the  case,  the  facilities  for  finding  it  are  some- 
times quite  surprising,  as  the  following  incident  will  show. 

A  young  lady  in  Iowa  sent  by  mail  a  piece  of  crocheted 
edging  to  her  cousin  in  Dorchester,  which  is  a  part  of  Boston, 
Massachusetts.  The  contents  slipped  out  somewhere  and  the 
wrapper  was  delivered  to  its  proper  address,  but  without  the 
edging.  A  letter  had  already  been  received  in  which  the  send- 
ing of  the  article  was  mentioned,  so  that  the  receiver  knew 
from  whom  the  wrapper  came.  She  notified  the  sub-post- 
master in  charge  of  the  Dorchester  office,  and  he  began  the 
system  of  tracing  by  means  of  blanks  prepared  for  that  pur- 
pose. He  wrote  out  the  description  of  the  article  and  the 


264  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

facts  of  the  case,  and  sent  these  blanks  to  the  postmaster  at 
Boston.  The  Boston  postmaster  forwarded  them  to  Chicago; 
from  Chicago  the  blanks  were  sent  to  the  several  offices  west 
of  Chicago  until  they  reached  the  point  of  departure,  in  Iowa. 
No  trace  was  found  to  answer  the  description,  and  the  blanks 
came  back  to  Chicago.  They  were  then  sent  eastward.  At 
Cleveland  the  missing  article  was  found  and  forwarded  to  the 
postmaster  at  Chicago,  whence  the  blanks  had  last  been  sent 
out.  The  Chicago  postmaster  forwarded  the  same  to  Boston 
with  the  missing  article;  from  Boston  the  description  and 
the  merchandise  were  sent  to  Dorchester.  Meantime  the 
family  had  moved  to  Salem,  and  the  Dorchester  postmaster 
forwarded  them  to  Salem.  The  receiver  secured  the  missing 
article  and  receipted  for  the  same,  while  the  description  with 
its  various  entries  of  travel,  from  Dorchester  to  Boston,  from 
Boston  to  Chicago,  from  Chicago  to  the  various  offices  in 
Iowa,  then  back  to  Chicago,  thence  to  the  different  offices  as 
far  as  Cleveland,  and  then  from  Cleveland  to  Chicago,  Boston, 
Dorchester,  and  Salem,  furnished  a  document  of  considerable 
interest. 

Xm  1790  there  were  70  post  offices  and  1,875  miles  of 
posT:  roads.  That  year  the  number  of  letters  and  papers  de- 
livered did  not  exceed  2,000,000.  In  1890,  one  hundred 
years  afterward,  there  were  more  than  65,000  post  offices 
and  more  than  30,000  mail  routes.  During  that  year  more 
than  10,000,000,000  pieces  of  mail  matter  were  handled. 
The  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the  post-office  department 
in  the  United  States  amount  annually  to  about  $75,000,000. 

This  resume  of  the  postal  service  plainly  shows  the  energy, 
enterprise,  and  intelligence  of  our  people,  the  success  attained 
by  our  Government,  and  the  tremendous  growth  and  de- 
velopment of  our  country. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

SIGNALING. 

THE  transmission  of  letters  from  one  point  to  another  al- 
ways requires  time.  Even  when  a  letter  is  dropped  into  the 
post  office  it  will  not  go  until  the  next  regular  mail.  It  was 
long  ago  seen  that  occasions  frequently  arose  when  it  was 
necessary  to  send  messages  quickly.  This  was  especially 
important  in  times  of  war,  when  each  army  desired  to  know 
immediately  the  movements  of  the  enemy.  This  necessity 
led  to  various  devices  for  transmitting  messages  instantane- 
ously. Any  form  of  signaling  would  be  satisfactory  if  the 
signals  were  visible  to  the  eye  of  the  distant  observer. 

(The  earliest  method  of  signaling  was  the  use  of  the 
beacon  fire  or  the  sending  of  messages  by  light.  In  the 
early  colonial  period  in  this  country,  during  the  anxious 
times  of  Indian  hostilities,  beacon  poles  were  here  and  there 
set  up  and  from  them  large  kettles  were  suspended  which 
held  combustible  matter.  The  burning  of  this  material  con- 
veyed the  intelligence  that  danger  was  at  hand. 

One  of  the  earliest  beacon  poles  was  erected  on  Beacon 
Hill,  in  Boston,  about  1634.  A  watchman  was  constantly  at 
the  place  to  give  the  signal  on  the  approach  of  danger.  That 
beacon  pole  was  a  tall  mast,  firmly  supported,  about  seventy 
feet  in  height.  Tree  nails  were  driven  into  it  to  enable  the 
watchman  to  ascend,  and  near  its  top  an  iron  crane  pro- 
jected which  supported  an  iron  skeleton  frame.  In  this 
frame  was  placed  a  barrel  of  tar  to  be  fired  when  the  occasion 


266 


AMERICAN    INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 


required  the  signal.  This  beacon  was  more  than  two  hundred 
feet  above  the  sea  level,  and  the  light  of  it,  therefore,  could  be 
seen  for  a  great  distance  inland.  Many  of  the  early  settle- 
ments in  New  England  were  made  upon  the  tops  of  hills  in 
order  that  the  people  might  the  more  quickly  and  easily  see 

the  approach  of  Indians  and 
signal  the  news  to  other  set- 
tlements by  bonfires. 

A  second  method  of  sig- 
naling was  by  the  use  of  the 
semaphore.  This  was  invent- 
ed by  Claude  Chappe  and 
was  adopted  by  the  French 
Government  in  1794.  It  con- 
sists of  an  upright  post,  which 
supports  a  horizontal  bar  or 
arm,  which  can  be  put  at 
various  angles.  In  order  to 
carry  out  this  system  of  sig- 
naling, stations  must  pre- 
viously be  agreed  upon  and 
signal  officers  constantly  on 
duty.  If  the  intelligence 

was  to  be  conveyed  to  a  considerable  distance  intermediate 
stations  must  be  had.  The  second  station  received  the  signal 
from  the  first  and  transmitted  it  to  the  third,  and  so  on. 
This  proved  to  be  a  very  difficult  operation  and  was  never 
extensively  used. 

A  third  and  successful  form  of  signaling  was  by  the  mo- 
tion of  flags.  During  our  Civil  War  the  army  made  much 
use  of  military  signals.  The  system  was  devised  by  Major 
Myer  and  was  continued  through  the  war,  not  only  in  the 


SIGNALING  BY  BEACON  FIRES. 


LETTERS — SIGNALING.  267 

army  but  on  naval  vessels.  When  the  stations  were  less 
than  five  miles  apart  signaling  was  considered  to  be  at  very 
short  range.  Messages  have  been  sent  ten  miles  by  means 
of  a  pocket  handkerchief  attached  to  a  twelve-foot  rod. 
With  the  regular  flags  and  staffs  used  by  the  signal  corps 
during  the  war,  signals  were  often  read  twenty-five  miles 
away,  and  it  is  said  that  single  words  have  been  read  at  a 
distance  of  forty  miles. 

In  the  early  spring  of  1863  General  Peck  was  in  com- 
mand of  the  Union  forces  at  Suffolk,  Virginia.  He  had  under 
him  about  ten  thousand  men  and  had  thoroughly  fortified  the 
place  by  a  connected  system  of  forts,  redoubts,  and  breast- 
works. His  outmost  signal  station  was  placed  on  an  elevated 
plateau  across  the  Nansemond  River.  This  station  was  made 
by  sawing  off  the  top  of  a  tall  pine  tree  and  placing  thereon 
a  small  platform  surrounded  by  a  railing.  The  signal  officer 
would  tie  his  horse  at  the  foot  of  the  tree  and  mount  to  the 
platform  by  a  rope  ladder. 

Early  one  morning  in  March,  this  signal  officer  suddenly 
observed  the  head  of  a  column  of  troops  emerging  from  the 
woods  in  the  rear.  This  was  the  advance  guard  of  two  Con- 
federate corps  under  General  Longstreet.  Instantly  he 
caught  up  his  signal  flag  and  as  quickly  as  possible  signaled 
to  the  town  the  approach  of  the  enemy.  Picking  up  his 
signal  book  he  hurried  down  the  ladder,  mounted  his  horse 
and  galloped  away.  Before  he  could  reach  his  saddle,  how- 
ever, the  Confederates  were  within  rifle  range  and  fired  at 
him.  They  did  not  succeed  in  hitting  him  and  he  escaped 
safely  to  his  friends. 

The  signal  had  been  seen  and  was  quickly  repeated  to  all 
parts  of  the  fortified  town.  The  drums  instantly  beat  the 
long  roll  and,  within  five  minutes  from  the  time  his  signal 


268  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

was  given,  and  before  General  Longstreet  could  swing  out 
his  light  battery  and  open  fire,  the  entire  Federal  force  was 
under  arms  and  the  artillery  in  the  nearest  battery  had  opened 
a  raking  fire.  The  briskness  of  this  fire  from  the  Federal 
battery  soon  obliged  Longstreet  to  withdraw  his  forces  to  the 
cover  of  the  woods.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  promptness  of 
the  signal  officer  it  is  possible  that  the  town  might  have  been 
captured. 

A  notable  use  of  this  system  of  army  signals  occurred  in 
the  campaign  of  General  Miles  against  the  Apaches  in  New 
Mexico  and  Arizona  in  1886.  He  established  a  system  of 
thirteen  signal  stations  in  that  country,  over  which,  during 
a  period  of  four  months,  more  than  eighteen  hundred  mes- 
sages were  sent.  The  savages  were  surprised  and  con- 
founded  by  the  way  intelligence  of  their  movements  became 
known  hundreds  of  miles  distant. 

As  early  as  1861  Moses  G.  Farmer  introduced  a  success- 
ful method  of  signaling  which  afterward  was  employed  by 
the  officers  of  the  United  States  Coast  Survey  on  Lake 
Superior.  This  system  was  by  means  of  mirrors  which  were 
able  to  reflect  the  sunlight  between  stations  ninety  miles 
apart.  This  method  is  called  the  heliographic  system.  The 
French  have  used  it  among  the  islands  of  the  Indian  Ocean 
where  the  stations  are  on  mountain  peaks  sometimes  135 
miles  apart.  Even  this  long-range  signaling  has  been  sur- 
passed by  our  own  Signal  Corps,  which  has  succeeded  in  send- 
ing messages  by  our  method  from  Mount  Uncompahgre  in 
Colorado  to  Mount  Ellen  in  Utah,  a  distance  of  183  miles. 
During  the  siege  of  Paris,  messages  by  the  use  of  the  calcium 
light,  concentrated  and  directed  by  lenses,  were  sent  from 
one  point  to  another. 

A  very  unique  form  of  signaling  was  employed  by  New 


LETTERS — SIGNALING.  269 

York  State  at  the  opening  of  the  Erie  Canal,  in  1825.  The 
cannon,  which  had  been  captured  by  Commodore  Perry  at 
the  time  of  his  famous  victory  on  Lake  Erie,  were  placed  at 
intervals  along  the  line  of  the  canal.  When  the  first  canal 
boat  started  from  Buffalo,  the  first  cannon  was  fired.  When 
the  sound  was  heard  at  the  second  cannon,  that  was  dis- 
charged; and  so  on,  the  entire  length  of  the  canal.  Two 
hours  after  the  start  at  Buffalo  the  news  had  reached  New 
York. 

All  these  various  methods  of  communication  at  long 
range  have  proved  more  or  less  objectionable  and  unsatis- 
factory. It  was  natural,  therefore,  that  as  soon  as  it  was 
known  that  electricity  could  be  conducted  by  wires  from  one 
place  to  another,  experiments  should  be  begun  in  the  hope 
of  finding  some  possible  means  of  conveying  intelligence  by 
it.  Perhaps  the  earliest  suggestion  was  in  a  letter  published 
in  The  Scots  Magazine,  of  February,  1753.  The  letter  was 
signed  "C.  M.",  which  probably  meant  Charles  Morrison,  a 
young  Scotch  surgeon.  He  proposed  to  use  as  many  in- 
sulated conductors  as  there  were  letters  in  the  alphabet. 
Each  wire  was  to  represent  one  letter  only,  and  the  message 
would  be  sent  by  charging  the  several  wires  in  succession  so 
that  the  operator  in  receiving  it  would  be  obliged  to  notice 
the  order  of  movement  among  the  wires.  From  that  simple 
beginning  inventors  proceeded  to  suggest  first  one  thing 
and  then  another,  but  they  found  so  many  difficulties  that  it 
seemed  impossible  to  overcome  them  all. 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE   TELEGRAPH. 


ON  the  second  day  of  April,  1872,  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  the  life  of  a  benefactor  of  his  race,  an  aged  man  who 
had  seen  more  than  fourscore  years  of  mingled  trial  and 
triumph,  was  ended.  That  man  was  Prof.  Samuel  Finley 


ELECTRIC  WIRES. 


Breese  Morse,  the  inventor  of  the  electric  telegraph.  His 
name  is  as  widely  known  the  world  over  as  that  of  Washing- 
ton, or  Caesar,  or  Aristotle.  His  long  life  had  been  ex- 
tremely checkered.  He  had  passed  through  troubles,  trials, 
anxieties,  disappointments,  bereavements ;  he  had  been  sub- 
ject to  persecutions,  losses,  poverty,  toil,  discouragements; 
he  had  met  with  successes,  gains,  wealth,  luxury,  honors, 
fame;  and  finally  the  homage  of  republics,  kingdoms,  em- 
pires had  been  laid  at  his  feet.  He  was  never  cast  down, 
never  unduly  elated.  He  bore  all  his  poverty  and  disap- 


LETTERS — THE   TELEGRAPH. 

pointments  and  wore  all  his  honors  and  wealth  with  the 
"grace  of  a  Christian  and  the  calmness  of  a  philosopher." 

Professor  Morse  was  born  at  the  foot  of  Breed's  Hill  in 
Charlestown,  Massachusetts,  April  27th,  1791.  He  was  the 
oldest  of  three  brothers.  His  father  was  a  very  distinguished 
man  in  his  day ;  for  more  than  thirty  years  the  pastor  of  a 
church  in  Charlestown,  a  noted  preacher,  a  good  historian, 
the  author  of  many  books,  and,  particularly,  the  father  of  the 
science  of  geography  in  the  United  States.  Professor  Morse 
inherited  from  both  his  father  and  his  mother  those  traits  of 
character  which  enabled  him  to  succeed  in  his  great  life  work, 
in  spite  of  discouragements,  obstacles,  and  opposition.  His 
ancestors  were  all  noted  for  their  "  intelligence,  energy,  origi- 
nal thinking,  perseverence,  and  integrity." 

How  we  would  like  to  step  into  the  little  schoolroom  and 
see  Samuel  at  his  first  school.  He  was  four  years  of  age. 
His  teacher  was  known  as  "Old  Ma'am  Rand,"  an  invalid 
who  could  not  leave  her  chair.  « She  governed  the  uneasy 
little  urchins  with  a  long  rattan  that  would  reach  across  the 
small  room  where  she  kept  her  school.  At  seven  years  of  age 
Samuel  was  sent  to  Andover  to  a  preparatory  school,  kept  by 
Mr.  Foster;  here  he  fitted  for  Phillips  Academy  and,  in  that 
famous  institution,  under  the  direction  of  Mark  Newman,  he 
prepared  for  Yale  College,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1810. 

While  in  college  he  was  under  the  instruction  of  Jeremiah 
Day  in  natural  philosophy  and  paid  ^reat  attention  to  the 
subject  of  electricity,  getting  everything  that  was  known 
about  it  at  that  time.  Professor  Day  said :  "  Morse  was  often 
present  in  my  laboratory  during  my  preparatory  arrange- 
ments and  experiments,  and  thus  was  made  acquainted  with 
them."  On  leaving  college  Morse  had  a  burning  ambition 
to  be  a  portrait  painter.  He  put  himself  under  the  instruc- 


2/2  AMERICAN   INVENTORS   AND    INVENTIONS. 

tion  of  Washington  Allston,  and  went  with  him  to  England 
to  pursue  his  favorite  study.  Is  it  not  a  little  singular  that 
Morse,  who  invented  the  telegraph,  was  a  student  under 
Allston,  and  that  Robert  Fulton,  who  invented  the  American 
steamboat,  was  a  student  under  West,  another  famous 
American  painter? 

One  day  Mr.  Allston  introduced  young  Morse  to  Benjamin 
West,  whose  fame  at  that  time  was  as  wide  as  the  world  of 
irt.  West  was  in  his  studio  painting  his  "Christ  Rejected." 
After  a  time  he  began  a  critical  examination  of  Mr.  Morse's 
hands  and  at  length  said:  "Let  me  tie  you  with  this  cord, 
and  take  that  place  while  I  paint  the  hands  of  our  Saviour." 
Morse  of  course  complied ;  West  finished  his  work  and,  re- 
leasing him,  said,  "  You  may  say  now,  if  you  please,  you  had 
a  hand  in  this  picture." 

Morse  had  many  interesting  experiences  in  England  dur- 
ing his  four  years'  study  under  Allston.  He  returned  to 
America  in  1815,  and  frora  that  time  for  about  fifteen  years 
devoted  himself  to  painting  and  inventing.  He  was  for 
some  time  professor  of  the  fine  arts  in  the  University  of 
the  City  of  New  York,  and  during  all  these  years  he  paid 
much  attention  to  the  study  of  electricity. 

After  three  years  spent  in  Europe,  he  returned  in  1832 
on  the  packet  ship  Sully.  In  the  early  part  of  the  voyage, 
one  day  at  the  dinner  table,  the  conversation  turned  to  the 
subject  of  electro-magnetism.  Professor  Morse  remarked : 
"  If  the  presence  of  electricity  can  be  made  visible  in  any 
part  of  the  circuit,  I  see  no  reason  why  intelligence  may  not 
be  transmitted  by  electricity." 

His  mind  could  think  of  nothing  else ;  this  one  idea  had 
taken  complete  possession  of  his  soul;  all  that  he  had  learned 
in  former  years,  his  experiments  with  Professor  Day  at  Yale 


LETTERS — THE  TELEGRAPH.  273 

College,  and  his  later  studies,  were  all  revived  and  drawn 
upon  for  ways  and  means  to  accomplish  the  thing  he  had  in 
mind.  He  withdrew  from  the  table  and  went  upon  deck. 
He  was  in  mid-ocean,  the  sky  everywhere  above  him;  the  sea 
everywhere  below  him.  As  the  lightning  comes  out  of  the 
east  and  shines  unto  the  west,  so  swift  and  so  far  was  that 
instrument  to  work  which  was  taking  shape  in  his  mind. 

He  could  not  fail,  for  patience,  perseverance,  and  hope 
were  hereditary  traits  in  his  character.     He  was  just  at  the 
maturity  of  manhood,  forty-one  years  of  age ;  from  that  time 
this  one  idea  absorbed  his  mind.     All  his  powers  were  con 
centrated  upon  this  one  subject,  the  electric  telegraph. 

Now  began  a  series  of  experiences  such  as  probably  no 
other  man  ever  passed  through.  Scarcely  did  any  one  ever 
suffer  so  much,  endure  so  much,  fail  so  many  times  to  ac- 
complish his  darling  object,  as  did  Morse.  He  completed 
his  invention;  he  perfected  it.  He  devised  his  alphabet 
consisting  of  long  and  short  marks  and  dots ;  he  obtained  a 
patent  for  it ;  but  he  had  not  the  money  to  put  the  invention 
in  operation.  Years  of  trouble  and  even  abject  poverty  fol- 
lowed. He  was  so  reduced  at  one  time  that  he  was  without 
food  for  twenty-four  hours.  He  applied  to  Congress  again 
and  again  for  a  grant  to  enable  him  to  build  and  put  in 
operation  a  trial  line  between  Baltimore  and  Washington. 

On  the  morning  of  the  4th  of  March,  1843,  as  Professor 
Morse  came  down  to  breakfast,  at  his  hotel  in  Washington, 
a  young  lady  met  him  and  said : 

"  I  have  come  to  congratulate  you,  sir." 
"  For  what,  my  dear  friend  ?  "  asked  the  professor. 
"On  the  passage  of  your  bill." 

That  bill  was  for  the  appropriation  by  Congress  of  $30,000 
for  the  purpose  of  "  constructing  a  line  of  electric-magnetic 

18 


274 


AMERICAN  INVENTIONS  AND   INVENTORS. 


telegraph  "  under  the  direction  of  Professor  Morse.  The  bill 
had  passed  the  House  some  days  before.  It  had  been  favor- 
ably reported  to  the  Senate,  but  there  were  a  hundred  and 
forty  bills  before  it  upon  the  calendar  which  were  to  be 
taken  up  in  their  regular  order.  Professor  Morse  had  re- 
mained in  the  Senate 
chamber  till  late  in  the 
evening.  His  friends  in- 
formed him  that  it  was  im- 
possible for  the  bill  to  be 
reached,  as  the  Senate  was 
to  adjourn  at  midnight. 
He  had,  therefore,  retired 
to  his  hotel  thoroughly 
discouraged.  Imagine 
then,  if  you  can,  his  sur- 
prise and  his  joy  when 
Miss  Ellsworth  the  daugh- 
ter of  his  friend,  Hon.  H. 
L.  Ellsworth,  of  Connecti- 
cut, the  commissioner  of 

patents,  told  him  that  in  the  closing  moments  of  the  session 
the  bill  had  passed  without  n.  division. 

He  had  invented  the  recording  electric  telegraph  eleven 
years  before  on  board  the  packet  ship  Sully,  upon  his  return 
voyage  from  Europe.  He  had  spent  eleven  years  in  perfect- 
ing his  plans,  and  in  striving  to  secure  the  means  for  placing 
this  great  invention  before  the  American  people.  During 
this  time  he  had  converted  all  his  property  into  money  and 
used  all  that  money  in  pushing  the  enterprise.  His  only 
hope  now  was  the  bill  before  Congress.  That  bill  had 
passed!  With  streaming  eyes  Professor  Morse  thanked 


MORSE  HEARS  OF  HIS  SUCCESS. 


LETTERS — THE  TELEGRAPH/  2/5 

Miss  Ellsworth  for  her  joyous  announcement,  and  promised 
her  that  she  should  dictate  the  first  message  which  should  be 
sent  over  the  wires. 

And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  on  the  24th  of  May,  1844, 
these  words  furnished  by  Miss  Ellsworth  were  telegraphed 
by  Professor  Morse  from  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  to  his 
friend  and  assistant,  Mr.  Alfred  Vail,  at  Baltimore,  and  im- 
mediately repeated  back  again : 

"  What  hath  God  wrought ! " 

Well  may  we  believe  that  the  inventor  spoke  from  the 
heart  when  he  said  years  later :  "  No  words  could  have  been 
selected  more  expressive  of  the  disposition  of  my  own  mind 
at  that  time,  to  ascribe  all  the  honor  to  Him  to  whom  it  truly 
belongs." 

A  singular  circumstance  brought  this  invention  to  the  at- 
tention of  the  people  of  the  whole  country  as  hardly  anything 
else  could  have  done.  The  National  Democratic  convention 
was  in  session  at  Baltimore.  They  had  unanimously  nomi- 
nated James  K.  Polk  for  the  Presidency.  They  then  nomi- 
nated Silas  Wright  as  their  candidate  for  Vice-President. 
This  information  was  .immediately  telegraphed  by  Mr.  Vail 
to  Professor  Morse  and  at  once  communicated  by  him  to  Mr. 
Wright,  then  in  the  Senate  chamber.  A  few  minutes  later 
the  convention  was  astonished  by  receiving  a  telegram  from 
Mr.  Wright,  declining  the  nomination.  The  members  were 
incredulous  and  declared  that  it  was  a  trick  of  Mr.  Wright's 
enemies.  They  voted  to  send  a  committee  to  Washington  to 
interview  Mr.  Wright,  and  adjourned  until  the  next  morning. 

On  the  return  of  this  committee  the  truth  of  the  message 
was  corroborated,  and  thus  this  new  telegraph,  just  completed, 
with  a  line  just  open  for  public  patronage,  was  advertised 
through  the  delegates  of  this  national  convention  to  the  peo- 


276  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS  AND    INVENTORS. 

pie  of  every  State  in  the  Union.  Astonishment  was  the  sen- 
sation of  the  hour.  The  work  bordered  upon  the  miraculous. 
Ordinarily  the  motto  is  true  that  "To  see  is  to  believe,"  but 
this  result  staggered  everybody. 

Although  the  invention  was  complete  'and  now  in  prac- 
tical operation,  yet  Professor  Morse's  trials  were  not  over. 
He  received  the  congratulations  of  his  friends,  but  he  was 
also  brought  to  the  notice  of  his  enemies.  Let  us  pass  over 
these  trials  and  give  attention  to  the  more  pleasant  duty  of 
considering  his  triumphs.  The  telegraph  rapidly  came  into 
general  use  between  the  great  cities  of  the  country.  Nor  was 
its  use  confined  to  America ;  almost  immediately  it  was  suc- 
cessfully introduced  into  the  various  countries  of  Europe. 

In  1854,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  decided 
unanimously  in  favor  of  Professor  Morse  on  all  points  involv- 
ing his  right  to  the  claim  of  having  been  the  original  invent- 
or of  the  electro-magnetic  telegraph.  In  1846,  Yale  College 
conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  (LL.D.)- 
He  was  made  a  member  of  various  learned  societies  in  France, 
Belgium,  and  the  United  States.  He  received  a  diamond 
decoration  from  the  Sultan  of  Turkey,  a  gold  snuff  box  con- 
taining the  Prussian  gold  medal  for  scientific  merit,  the  great 
gold  medal  of  Arts  and  Science  from  Wurtemberg,  and  the 
great  gold  medal  of  Science  and  Art  from  the  Emperor  of 
Austria.  Other  honors  were  conferred  upon  him  by  Den- 
mark, Spain,  Portugal,  Italy,  and  Great  Britain.  At  the  in- 
stance of  Napoleon  III.,  Emperor  of  the  French,  representa- 
tives from  various  countries  met  in  Paris  in  1858  and  decided 
upon  a  collective  testimonial  to  Professor  Morse,  and  the  re- 
sult of  their  deliberations  was  a  vote  of  400,000  francs. 
*  No  invention  in  ancient  or  modern  times  has  wrought 
such  a  revolution — a  revolution  in  all  business,  in  commerce, 


LETTERS — THE  TELEGRAPH.  2/7 

trade,  manufacturing  and  the  mechanic  arts,  in  politics,  gov- 
ernment, and  in  religious  affairs.  It  is  not  given  to  mortal 
man  to  comprehend  the  greatness,  to  duly  appreciate  the 
grandeur,  or  to  measure  the  utility,  of  this  remarkable  inven- 
tion. Over  the  mountains,  through  the  valleys,  under  the 
seas  flies  the  electric  current,  conveying  all-important  items 
of  news  from  pla^e  to  place,  from  country  to  country,  from 

continent  to  continent. 

\ 
"  This  electric  chain  from  East  to  West 

More  than  mere  m:.t&l.  more  than  mammon  can, 
Binds  us  together — kinsmen,  in  the  best ; 

Brethren  as  ou^ ;  and  looking  far  beyond 
The  world  in  an  electric  union  blest." 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE   ATLANTIC   CABLE. 

THE  growth  of  the  telegraph  was  very  much  like  that  of 
the  railroad.  In  1844,  the  first  line  was  opened,  as  we  have 
seen,  between  Baltimore  and  Washington,  a  distance  of  forty 
miles.  Within  a  few  years  lines  were  extended  to  the  prin- 
cipal cities  of  the  United  States.  In  1847,  the  Morse  tele- 
graph was  introduced  into  Germany  and  rapidly  spread  over 
the  entire  continent  of  Europe.  For  the  most  part  the  wires 
were  placed  by  the  side  of  the  railroad  tracks, — wherever  the 
railroad  penetrated  the  telegraph  went  also. 

Before  many  years  had  passed  time  was  in  a  sense  obliter- 
ated. Whatever  happened  in  New  York  might  be  immedi- 
ately known  in  Chicago.  Incidents  that  took  place  in  New 
Orleans  might  be  narrated  in  Boston  almost  as  soon  as  they 
occurred.  London  and  Rome,  Madrid  and  St.  Petersburg, 
were  united  by  the  lightning  rapidity  of  the  telegraphic  cur- 
rent. Meanwhile  London  and  New  York  were  as  far  apart 
as  ever.  News  could  be  conveyed  between  the  two  hemi- 
spheres only  by  the  comparatively  slow-moving  steamers. 
The  next  step  in  the  development  of  communication  must  be 
the  connecting  of  Europe  with  America  by  a  telegraph  wire. 
*  The  year  before  the  passage  of  the  act  by  which  Congress 
provided  Professor  Morse  with  the  means  for  completing  the 
first  telegraph  line,  he  had  stretched  a  wire  under  the  water 
from  Castle  Garden,  New  York  City,  to  Governor's  Island 
in  the  harbor.  He  had  thus  proved  that  telegraph  messages 


LETTERS — THE  ATLANTIC  CABLE.  279 

could  be  sent  under  water.  Ten  years  later  a  "  submarine 
telegraph "  was  constructed,  connecting  England  with  the 
continent  of  Europe.  Other  short  submarine  cables  were 
laid  and  successfully  operated.  To  undertake,  however,  to 
lay  a  cable  from  Europe  to  America,  thousands  of  miles  long 
and  hundreds  of  fathoms  below  the  surface  of  the  ocean,  was 
an  entirely  different  matter.  A  few  enthusiastic  men,  among 
them  Professor  Morse,  believed  that  it  could  be  done,  but  the 
majority  of  people  viewed  it  as  an  impossibility. 

Was  there  any  other  way  to  connect  the  two  worlds  by  an 
electric  wire?  Might  it  not  be  possible  to  build  a  telegraph 
line  from  Europe,  starting  from  some  point  in  Russia,  across 
Northern  Asia,  to  the  Behring  Straits?  Might  not  a  com- 
paratively short  cable  be  laid  to  Russian  America  (for  Alaska 
had  not  then  been  sold  to  the  United  States),  which  could 
connect  with  a  telegraph  line  to  be  erected  across  the  con- 
tinent to  New  York  City? 

Think  of  the  magnitude  of  this  proposition !  In  place  of 
laying  a  submarine  cable  across  the  Atlantic  Ocean  it  was 
proposed  to  traverse  the  entire  circuit  of  the  earth,  except 
the  Atlantic,  by  a  telegraph  line.  It  was  proposed  to  con- 
struct across  the  wilds  of  Siberia,  where  no  railroad  had 
been  built,  a  telegraph  line  thousands  of  miles  in  length; 
and,  besides  laying  a  cable,  to  build  another  line  of  great 
length  from  the  Aleutian  Islands  to  the  Pacific  coast  of  the 
United  States,  and  thence  across  the  Rockies,  where  at  that 
time  there  was  no  railroad. 

The  undertaking  was  a  great  one,  but  a  company  was 
formed  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a  Russian -American  tele- 
graph. Experienced  men  were  selected  from  English  and 
American  telegraphers  and  sent  to  Siberia  to  push  the  work. 
The  prospects  of  success  for  the  great  enterprise  were  favor- 


28O  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 

able  when  the  news  arrived  that  the  long-talked-of  Atlantic 
cable  was  at  last  laid  and  in  complete  working  order.  The 
Russian-American  telegraph  could  not  hope  to  compete  with 
the  cable,  and  the  project  was  abandoned. 

To  Cyrus  W.  Field  belongs  the  honor  of  pushing  forward 
to  successful  completion  the  Atlantic  cable.  At  the  early 
age  of  fifteen  Cyrus  left  the  parsonage  at  Stockbridge,  Con- 
necticut, the  home  of  his  father,  Rev.  David  Dudley  Field, 
for  New  York.  On  arriving  in  the  city  he  obtained  employ- 
ment as  an  errand  boy  in  the  dry-goods  establishment  of  A.  T. 
Stewart.  Three  years  later,  when  he  decided  to  give  up  his 
place  as  clerk  in  the  store,  the  proprietor  showed  his  appre- 
ciation of  the  boy's  merits  by  urging  him  to  remain,  making 
him  a  liberal  offer  if  he  would  do  so.  He  decided  to  make  a 
change,  however,  and  was  soon  engaged  with  a  brother  in 
Lee,  Massachusetts. 

When  young  Field  was  twenty  years  of  age  he  went  into 
business  for  himself,  and  for  the  next  thirteen  years  was 
known  as  one  of  New  York's  successful  merchants.  He  then 
retired  from  active  business,  but  found  it  a  difficult  task  to 
do  nothing.  After  a  long  voyage  to  South  America,  he  re- 
turned to  New  York,  where  he  gladly  welcomed  the  oppor- 
tunity that  then  came  to  busy  himself. 

The  Newfoundland  Electric  Telegraph  Company  had 
been  engaged  for  a  year  in  the  work  of  erecting  a  line  on  that 
island,  preparatory  to  connecting  it  with  the  mainland  by  a 
cable.  The  company  was  compelled  to  stop  work,  however, 
for  lack  of  the  necessary  means  to  continue.  The  leading 
member  of  the  company,  Frederick  N.  Gisborne,  appealed 
to  Mr.  Field  for  material  assistance.  After  several  inter- 
views, in  the  course  of  which  he  became  deeply  interested  in 
the  scheme,  Mr.  Field  came  to  the  conclusion  not  only  that 


LETTERS — THE  ATLANTIC  CABLE.  28  I 

the  plan  of  connecting  Newfoundland  with  the  United  States 
was  feasible,  but  also  that  Newfoundland  was  the  best  start- 
ing point  for  a  cable  to  Ireland. 

With  characteristic  energy  Mr.  Field  went  at  once  to 
work.  He  formed  a  new  company  and  obtained  extensive 
privileges  from  the  governments  of  Newfoundland,  Prince 
Edwards  Island,  and  the  State  of  Maine.  Many  months  were 
spent  in  erecting  the  land  telegraph  across  Newfoundland, 
over  wild  marsh  and  waste  moor,  rocks,  hills,  and  forests.  A 
cable,  obtained  in  England,  was  unsuccessfully  laid  across 
the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  in  1855.  The  next  year  a  second 
attempt  was  successful.  The  preliminary  work  was  now 
completed. 

More  means  and  more  influence  were  needed.  Mr.  Field 
organized  in  London  the  Atlantic  Telegraph  Company,  and 
showed  his  own  faith  by  personally  subscribing  for  one- 
quarter  of  the  stock.  The  governments  of  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States  liberally  aided  the  new  company  and  fur- 
nished ships  for  laying  down  the  cable. 

On  the  7th  of  August,  1857,  the  Niagara  and  the  Agamem- 
non sailed  from  Ireland,  each  carrying  1,250  miles  of  cable. 
The  Niagara  began  paying  out  her  line  and  all  went  well  for 
three  days.  At  nine  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  the  tenth, 
however,  the  cable  ceased  working.  Three  hours  later  the 
electric  current  returned,  to  the  intense  relief  of  all;  but 
before  morning  came  the  cry,  "  Stop  her!  back  her!  the  cable 
has  parted ! " 

With  flags  at  half-mast  the  ships  returned  to  Ireland. 
Half  a  million  dollars  had  been  lost  already.  Disheartened, 
but  not  discouraged,  the  company  voted  to  increase  its  capital 
and  try  again  the  next  year.  This  time  the  two  steamers 
sailed  directly  to  mid-ocean,  spliced  the  two  parts  of  the 


282 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND   INVENTORS. 


cable,  and  sailed  away  from  each  other,  the  Agamemnon  for 
Ireland  and  the  Niagara  for  Newfoundland.  On  the  i;th 
of  August  the  extremities  of  the  cable  were  connected  with 
the  instruments  and  the  work  was  done.  In  the  space  of 


LAYING  AN  OCEAN  CABLE. 


thirty-five  minutes  there  was  flashed  under  the  ocean  the 
message : 

"  Europe  and  America  are  united  by  telegraph.  Glory  to 
God  in  the  highest;  on  earth  peace;  good  will  toward  men." 

Messages  and  replies  from  the  Queen  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States  and  from  the  mayor  of  London  to  the  mayor 
of  New  York  followed.  The  American  people  were  wild 
with  enthusiasm ;  they  declared  the  Atlantic  cable  to  be  the 
greatest  achievement  of  the  age,  and  they  heaped  boundless 


LETTERS — THE  ATLANTIC  CABLE. 


283 


! 


praise  upon  the  head  of  the  persistent  and  courageous  Field. 
Eighteen  days  afterward,  the  signals  became  unintelligible 
and  the  first  Atlantic  cable  ceased  to  work. 

Was  all  the  time  and  money  so  far  spent  thrown  away? 
No !  for  this  first  experiment  paved  the  way  for  another  and 
successful  attempt.  It  is  said  also  that  one  message,  sent 
during  these  few  days, 
saved  the  commercial 
world  no  less  a  sum 
than  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars. 
For  the  time  being, 
however,  the  project 
of  an  Atlantic  cable 
was  allowed  to  remain 
quiet. 

*  Mr.  Field  was  fi- 
nancially ruined. 
The  Civil  War  in  the 
United  States  occu- 
pied the  thoughts  of  all  for  several  years.  But  in  time  the 
company  was  ready  to  try  again.  A  newly  prepared  cable 
was  made,  the  twenty-three  hundred  miles  of  which  weighed 
more  than  four  thousand  tons.  The  largest  vessel  in  the 
world,  the  Great  Eastern,  was  employed  to  carry  and  lay  it. 
On  July  23d,  1865,  the  steamer  started  from  Ireland  and  con- 
tinued on  its  westward  course  until  August  2d;  then  the 
cable  parted,  more  than  a  thousand  miles  from  the  starting 
point.  Nine  days  were  spent  in  attempts  to  grapple  for  the 
cable,  but  all  in  vain. 

The  next  year  the   Great  Eastern  again  set  sail,  with  a 
new  cable  and  with  sufficient  wire  to  complete  the  cable  of 


THE  GREAT  EASTERN. 


284  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS    AND    INVENTORS. 

the  previous  year,  if  possible.  In  fourteen  days  the  steamer 
entered  the  harbor  in  Newfoundland.  Two  months  later  the 
same  steamer  again  reached  Newfoundland,  having  captured 
the  missing  end  of  the  other  wire,  thereby  completing  two 
cables  from  Europe  to  America. 

July  2 /th,  1866,  was  a  joyous  day  in  the  life  of  Cyrus  W. 
Field.  For  thirteen  years  he  had  thought  of  little  else  but 
the  submarine  cable.  Failure  after  failure  had  not  discour- 
aged him ;  loss  of  property  only  stimulated  him  to  further 
efforts.  Now  success  had  come.  The  new  cable  was  more 
substantial  than  the  other  of  eight  years  before.  That  had 
failed,  but  this  would  succeed.  It  did  succeed.  From  that 
day  to  this  telegraphic  communication  between  Europe  and 
America  has  been  constant. 

Submarine  cables  are  now  in  extensive  operation  in  all 
parts  of  the  world.  More  than  half  a  dozen  cross  the  At- 
lantic, and  lines  have  been  constructed  from  England  to  India, 
from  India  to  Australia,  and  from  the  United  States  to  Mexico 
and  South  America.  At  the  present  time  there  are  perhaps 
two  hundred  cables  belonging  to  companies,  and  about  five 
hundred  belonging  to  government  systems.  These  cables, 
all  told,  cover  a  distance  of  nearly  a  hundred  thousand  miles. 

A  recent  incident  is  told  that  shows  something  of  the 
greatness  of  the  telegraph.  In  June,  1897,  a  great  celebra- 
tion took  place  in  London,  in  honor  of  the  sixty  years  that 
Queen  Victoria  had  been  upon  the  British  throne.  The 
Queen  rode  in  a  procession  through  streets  packed  with  mil- 
lions of  people.  Just  as  she  left  the  palace  she  pressed  an 
electric  button.  Instantly  this  message  was  sent  to  her 
colonies  all  over  the  world : 

"  From  my  heart  I  thank  my  beloved  people.  May  God 
bless  them.  Victoria,  R.  I." 


LETTERS — THE  ATLANTIC  CABLE.  285 

To  forty  different  points  in  her  empire  sped  the  electric 
message.  In  sixteen  minutes  a  reply  came  from  Ottawa  in 
Canada;  then  one  by  one  answers  came  in  from  more  remote 
provinces;  until,  before  the  Queen  reached  London  Bridge, 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  the  Gold  Coast  of  Africa,  and  the 
great  continent  of  Australia  had  sent  responses  to  her  message. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
THE    TELEPHONE. 

WHEN  the  telegraph  was  invented,  years  ago,  it  seemed 
little  less  than  a  miracle  that  a  message  could  be  dictated  in 
one  city  and  received  almost  instantaneously  in  another  city 
far  distant  from  the  sender.  Scientists,  however,  began  at 
once  on  the  invention  of  something  more  wonderful.  The 
telegraph  •  lacks  in  one  respect.  By  it  messages  must  be 
sent  exactly  as  dictated  and  cannot  be  corrected  until  the  re- 
ply is  received.  In  a  sense,  sending  and  receiving  messages 
by  telegraph  is  a  form  of  conversation,  but  a  conversation  at 
arm's-length.  To  carry  on  a  real  conversation  at  long  dis- 
tances would  be  a  great  advance.  An  instrument  prepared 
for  this  purpose  would  be  called  a  telephone. 

In  1875  Alexander  Graham  Bell  invented  the  first  success- 
ful electric  telephone.  This  was  exhibited  at  Salem,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  at  Philadelphia  at  the  Centennial  Exhibition, 
and  a  patent  for  it  was  obtained.  The  apparatus  of  Bell's 
telephone  is  very  simple-,  and  practically  consists  of  four 
parts :  the  battery,  the  wire  which  runs  from  the  speaker  to 
the  hearer,  a  diaphragm  against  which  the  vibrations  of  the 
air  produced  by  the  voice  of  the  speaker  strike,  and  another 
diaphragm  at  the  other  end  of  the  wire  which  reproduces 
similar  vibrations  and  sends  them  to  the  ear  of  the  listener. 
Elisha  Gray  of  Boston  made  a  similar  invention  and  applied 
for  a  patent  two  hours  after  Bell's  application  was  filed,/' 
The  invention  of  Mr.  Bell  has  proved  a  decided  success 


LETTERS — THE   TELEPHONE. 


28; 


All  telephonic  operations,  since  this  invention,   have  been 
based  upon  the  instrument  which  he  patented  in  1876. 

Mr.  Bell  was  the  son  of  a  distinguished  Scotch  educator, 
Alexander  Melville  Bell.  The  father  is  noted  for  the  inven* 
tion  of  a  new  method  for  improving  impediments  in  speech. 
This  system  of  instruction  is  called 
"Bell's  Visible  Speech."  It  is  used 
with  great  success  in  teaching  deaf- 
mutes  to  speak. 

His  son  Alexander  was  born  in 
Edinburgh  in  1847  and  was  educated  at 
the  University  of  Edinburgh.  He  re- 
moved to  London  when  he  was  twenty 
years  of  age  and  was  for  a  time  in  the 
University  there.  Three  years  later  he 
went  to  Canada  with  his  father,  and  at 
the  age  of  twenty-five  took  up  his  res- 
idence in  the  United  States,  and  be- 
came professor  of  vocal  physiology  in 
Boston  University.  He  had  been  in 
this  country  but  three  years  when  he 
made  his  great  invention,  and  its  com- 
plete success  gave  him  immense  wealth.  Later  he  invented 
the  "photophone,"  in  which  a  vibratory  beam  of  light  is 
substituted  for  a  wire  in  conveying  speech.  This  instrument 
has  attracted  much  attention  but  has  not  proved  of  practical 
use.  Professor  Bell  is  a  member  of  various  learned  societies 
and  has  published  many  scientific  papers.  His  present  home 
is  in  Washington. 

Within  ten  years  the  art  of  telephoning  has  rapidly  de- 
veloped. This  has  stimulated  inventions  and  brought  into 
use  a  vast  number  of  special  contrivances  for  local  and  long- 


A  TELEPHONE. 


288 


AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 


distance  transmission.  The  principal  inventors  of  these  new 
contrivances  are  Bell,  Berliner,  Edison,  Hughes,  Dolbear, 
Gray,  Blake,  and  Peirce. 

Nearly  all  of  the  telephone  business  of  our  country  is 
carried  on  under  licenses  from  the  American  Bell  Telephone 
Company.  The  telephone  lines  at  present  in  the  United 
States  would  aggregate  a  distance  of  more  than  six  hundred 
thousand  miles,  and  there  are  more  than  half  a  million  in- 
struments in  our  country  alone.  The  longest  telephone  line 
extends  from  Portland,  Maine,  via  Boston,  New  York,  and 

Chicago,  to  Milwaukee,  a 
distance  of  more  than  thir- 
teen hundred  miles. 

Let  us  consider  for  a 
moment  the  wonders  of  this 
marvelous  invention,  as 
compared  with  another  no 
less  marvelous  in  its  way. 

In  1867  Anson  Burlin- 
game  was  appointed  by  the 
Chinese  Government  special 
envoy  to  the  United  States 
and  the  great  European 
governments,  with  power 
to  frame  treaties  of  friend- 
ship with  those  nations.  This  was  an  honor  never  before 
conferred  on  a  foreigner.  Mr.  Burlingame  accepted  the 
appointment  and,  at  the  head  of  a  large  mission  of  distin- 
guished Chinese  officials,  arrived  in  this  country  early  in 
1868,  negotiated  with  our  Government  the  "Burlingame 
Treaty,"  proceeded  the  same  year  to  England,  thence  to 
France,  the  next  year  to  Denmark,  Sweden,  Holland,  and 


ALEXANDER    BELL   USING  A  LONG-DISTANCE 
TELEPHONE. 


LETTERS — THE  TELEPHONE.  289 

Prussia,  and  finally  reached  Russia  early  in  1870.  He  died  in 
St.  Petersburg  after  a  few  days'  illness,  on  the  23d  of  February. 

Now  see  what  the  telegraph  did.  His  death  occurred 
about  half-past  nine  in  the  morning.  As  soon  as  possible 
the  fact  was  telegraphed  to  our  minister  in  Paris.  He  for- 
warded the  news  to  our  minister  in  London ;  by  him  it  was 
cabled  across  the  Atlantic,  transmitted  from  the  cable  to 
Washington  and  delivered  to  Nathaniel  P.  Banks,  a  member 
of  the  House  of  Representatives  from  Massachusetts.  Gen- 
eral Banks  read  the  dispatch  to  the  House,  and  delivered 
offhand  an  extended  eulogy  upon  the  distinguished  son  of 
Massachusetts.  That  speech  of  General  Banks  was  written 
out,  sent  to  the  telegraph  office,  transmitted  by  the  electric 
current  to  the  various  cities  of  the  country,  put  into  type, 
printed  in  the  evening  newspapers,  and  the  writer  of  this 
chapter  read  it  at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day 
that  Mr.  Burlingame  died.  This  was  done  as  early  as  1870. 

But  what  is  that  compared  to  the  greater  wonders  of  the 
telephone?  That  a  man  can  "talk  into"  the  little  instru- 
ment, and  his  voice  be  heard  and  recognized,  and  his  words 
understood,  by  his  friend  in  a  city  five  hundred  or  one  thou- 
sand miles  away,  is  indeed  a  miracle.  Consider  for  a  moment 
what  is  done  by  means  of  the  switchboard  in  the  central  tele- 
phone office  of  a  great  city.  Every  one  of  the  thousands  of 
subscribers  has  his  own  instrument  for  transmitting  and  re- 
ceiving messages.  One  of  these  subscribers  rings  a  bell  in 
his  house  or  his  business  office  which  rings  another  bell  at  the 
central  station ;  the  attendant  inquires  "  Hello !  what  num- 
ber?" and  receives  a  reply,  "four,  naught,  eight,  Tremont." 
The  attendant  by  a  simple  switch,  turned  by  a  touch  of  the 
hand,  makes  the  connection  and  rings  the  bell  of  that  sub- 
scriber whose  number  is  "408  Tremont."  Number  "408 


2QO  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

Tremont"  steps  to  the  instrument  and  in  a  quiet  voice  says 
"  Hello!  who  is  it?"     Thus  these  two  persons  are  placed  in 
direct  communication,   and  can   talk  with  each  other,  back 
and  forth,  as  long  as  they  please. 

This  conversation  is  carried  on  between  two  different 
sections  of  the  city  where  these  two  men  live,  but  the  same 
conversation  may  with  equal  ease  be  carried  on  between 
Boston  and  New  York,  between  Boston  and  Washington,  or  be- 
tween New  York  and  Chicago.  Thus  time  and  distance  are  an- 
nihilated and  the  whole  world  stands,  as  it  were,  face  to  face. 

But  the  marvel  does  not  end  here.  The  above  conversa- 
tion is  carried  on  by  means  of  a  continuous  wire  which  runs 
from  one  place  to  the  other.  If  there  are  parallel  wires, 
strange  to  say,  the  vibrations  carried  on  in  the  one  wire  are 
liable  to  create,  by  induction,  similar  vibrations  in  the  parallel 
wire.  Here  is  an  illustration: 

Nearly  twenty  years  ago,  soon  after  the  invention  came 
into  use,  three  gentlemen  in  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  put 
up  a  private  line  between  their  three  houses,  making  a  circuit. 
Upon  this  line  they  carried  on  experiments  and  made  a 
number  of  important  discoveries.  The  evening  was  the  time 
when  they  principally  used  their  private  telephone  line.  On 
a  certain  Tuesday  evening  these  three  gentlemen,  conversing 
one  with  another,  suddenly  found  themselves  listening  to 
strains  of  music.  All  three  of  them  heard  the  same  thing: 
the  sound  of  a  cornet  and  of  one  or  two  other  musical  instru- 
ments; then  singing  and  a  soprano  voice.  They  wrote  down 
the  names  of  the  pieces  that  were  sung  and  the  tunes  that 
were  played  upon  the  instruments.  They  had  no  knowledge 
of  the  source  of  these  sounds. 

The  next  day,  and  for  days  following,  these  gentlemen 
went  about  the  city  inquiring  of  their  friends  everywhere  if 


LETTERS — THE   TELEPHONE. 

they  knew  of  a  concert  on  that  Tuesday  night  where  such 
pieces  were  sung  and  such  tunes  were  played.  Nobody  had 
any  knowledge  of  the  affair.  At  length  one  of  the  gentle- 
men published  an  article  in  the  Providence  Journal,  describ- 
ing what  he  had  heard  through  his  telephone  wire  on  that 
Tuesday  evening,  giving  the  date,  and  asking  any  one  who 
could  inform  him  what  the  concert  was  and  where  it  was,  to 
give  him  the  desired  information.  Then  it  transpired  that 
this  concert  was  a  telephonic  experiment. 

The  performers  were  at  Saratoga,  New  York,  and  they 
were  connected  by  a  telephone  wire  with  friends  in  New  York 
City.  The  experiment  had  plainly  demonstrated  that  the 
sounds  made  in  singing  and  in  playing  numerous  instruments 
could  be  clearly  understood,  by  means  of  the  telephone,  from 
Saratoga  to  New  York  City.  But  it  proved  more  than  this. 
The  vibrations  in  that  telephone  wire  between  Saratoga  and 
New  York  induced  the  same  vibrations  in  the  parallel  wire 
of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company.  These  vibra- 
tions were  continued  through  New  York  City  to  Providence 
and  onward.  The  private  telephone  line  of  these  gentlemen 
was  parallel  to  the  wire  of  the  Western  Union  Company 
which  had  been  thus  affected,  and  these  vibrations  were 
picked  off  from  the  telegraph  wire  and  conveyed  by  this 
parallel  telephone  wire  to  the  receivers  at  these  three  houses. 

What  will  be  the  next  wonderful  invention?  The  tele- 
graph transmits  your  thoughts  and  delivers  them  in  writing ; 
the  telephone  transmits  your  thoughts  and  delivers  them  to 
the  ear  by  sounds.  Some  day,  perhaps,  you  may  step  into  a 
cabinet  in  Boston  and  have  your  photograph  taken  in  New 
York  City  by  aid  of  an  electric  wire,  the  telephote.  Just  as 
the  telephone  transmits  the  sounds,  the  telephote  may  trans- 
imt  the  light  and  give  not  only  light  and  shade,  but  the 
colors  of  the  solar  spectrum. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 
CONCLUSION. 

WE  have  now  considered  six  groups  of  topics  connected 
with  the  growth  and  development  of  our  country.  We  have 
looked  into  the  houses  of  the  Indians  and  of  the  settlers  in 
the  colonial  times,  and  into  the  larger  and  more  elaborate 
homes  of  to-day.  We  have  considered  improved  means  of 
heating  and  better  methods  of  lighting.  We  have  noticed 
improvements  in  machinery  for  planting,  cultivating,  and 
harvesting  the  products  of  the  soil.  We  have  seen  the  great 
advance  that  has  been  made  in  the  manufacture  cf  our  cloth- 
ing, through  improved  cotton  and  woolen  machinery  and  the 
sewing  machine.  We  have  traveled  by  land  and  by  water, 
at  home  and  abroad,  on  foot,  on  horseback,  in  stagecoaches, 
by  canals,  steamboats,  and  railroads.  Finally  we  have  read 
and  thought  and  studied  about  language,  the  printing  press, 
our  postal  system,  the  telegraph  and  the  telephone. 

We  have  seen  our  country  when  it  was  wholly  east  of  the 
Mississippi  River,  whereas  now  it  is  extended  even  to  the 
great  western  ocean.  A  century  ago  our  territory  embraced 
about  eight  hundred  thousand  square  miles ;  now  it  is  nearly 
five  times  as  great,  with  large  areas  of  recently  acquired 
Spanish  islands  to  be  added  l:o  that.  The  population  of  the 
United  States  in  1790  was  less  than  four  millions;  a  hundred 
years  later  it  was  sixty-throe  millions.  It  is  now  probably 
between  seventy  and  seventy-five  millions.  Our  exports  then 
were  about  fifty  million  dollars  in  value ;  this  year  they  are 


CONCLUSION.  293 

more  than  one  thousand  millions.  A  century  since,  we  im- 
ported into  this  country  goods  to  the  value  of  about  seventy 
million  dollars.  This  was  largely  in  excess  of  our  exports. 
To-day  our  exports  are  of  far  greater  value  than  our  imports. 

At  the  beginning  of  our  national  government  we  were 
almost  altogether  engaged  in  the  pursuits  of  agriculture. 
Now  our  people  are  largely  massed  in  cities  and  large  towns, 
while  our  mechanical  and  manufacturing  interests  are  of 
immense  proportions. 

A  hundred  years  ago  the  people  speaking  the  seven  prin- 
cipal languages  of  Europe  numbered  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  millions.  To-day  they  number  about  four  hundred 
millions.  The  present  number  is  therefore  almost  three 
times  that  of  a  century  ago.  At  that  time  the  English-speak- 
ing people  ranked  fifth  among  the  seven,  and  numbered  but 
twenty  millions.  To-day  they  lead  the  list,  and  number  one 
hundred  and  twenty  millions;  there  are  six  times  as  many 
people  to-day  using  the  English  language  as  there  were  a 
century  ago.  The  inhabitants  of  our  country  outnumber  all 
other  English-speaking  people  in  the  whole  world. 

Our  country  occupies,  all  things  considered,  the  best  por- 
tion of  the  world.  This  includes  the  Atlantic  slope,  the 
great  Mississippi  basin,  and  the  Pacific  slope,  and  our  whole 
territory,  except  our  new  colonial  possessions,  lies  within  the 
north  temperate  zone.  We  therefore  have  a  great  variety  of 
soil  and  climate;  the  soil  is  the  most  fertile  and  the  climate 
the  most  salubrious  of  the  whole  earth.  We  have  an  almost 
infinite  variety  of  productions  and  our  people  are  engaged  in 
the  entire  round  of  human  industries. 

The  United  States  has  made  vast  strides  in  industry,  in 
wealth,  in  intelligence,  and  in  the  comforts  of  life.  Civiliza- 
tion has  rapidly  advanced  during  the  whole  of  this  century. 


294  AMERICAN   INVENTIONS   AND    INVENTORS. 

If  the  great  contest  of  the  future  is  to  be  between  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race  and  the  rest  of  the  world,  surely  this  great 
republic  must  have  the  leading  position  in  that  contest. 

The  American  people  to-day  form  a  nation  of  readers. 
In  newspapers,  magazines,  and  books  of  all  sorts  and  upon 
every  subject  the  American  press  is  prolific.  We  have  a 
system  of  public  schools  well  established  4n  every  State  and 
every  Territory  of  our  Union,  and  supported  "By  taxation,  and 
very  generally  the  children  are  obliged  by  compulsory  laws 
to  attend  school.  We  are  living  in  an  age  of  great  activity 
and  rapid  advancement.  The  young  people  of  our  republic 
who  are  attending  school  to-day  are  to  be  congratulated  upon 
their  good  fortune ;  and  it  becomes  them  to  magnify  their 
opportunities,  to  appreciate  their  advantages,  and  to  be  es- 
pecially loyal  to  their  country,  its  government,  and  its  in- 
stitutions. 


INDEX. 


.(Etna,  213 
Air  brakes,  236 
ALLEN,  NICHOLAS,  48 
ALLSTON,  WASHINGTON,  272 
Ancient  writing,  249 
Arc  light,  87 
ARNOLD,  EDWIN,  169 
Atlantic  Telegraph  Co.,  281  - 
Automobile,  243 
Axe,  25 

Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  226 

BASKERVILLE,  JOHN,  254 

Bay-Path,  192 

BELL,  ALEXANDER  GRAHAM,  286 

Bicycle,  243 

Binder,  120 

Blackstone  canal,  221 

BOULTON  and  WATT,  179 

Brooklyn  bridge,  239 

BRUSH,  CHARLES  FRANCIS,  85 

BURLINGAME,  ANSON,  288 

Cable,  Atlantic,  278 
Cable  cars,  242 
Cables,  submarine,  284 
CABOT,  JOHN,  18 
Calashes,  201 
Canals,  215 
Candelabra,  71 
Candles,  67 
Canoe,  197 


Carrying  fire,  52 

Central  Pacific  Railroad,  228 

CHAPPE,  CLAUDE,  266 

Chesapeake    and    Delaware    Canal, 

221 

Chicago  and  Alton  Railroad,  236 

Chimneys,  31 

CLAYTON,  JOHN,  81 

"Clermont,"  212,  215 

"Clinton's  big  ditch,"  221 

Coal,  44 ;  anthracite,  47 ;  bituminous, 

47;  sea,  45 
Coffee,  139 

Colonial  conditions,  143 
Colonial  cooking,  29,  30 
Colonial  homes,  24 
CONANT,   ROGER,  124 
Cooking,  colonial,  29,  30 
CORLISS,  GEORGE  H.,  175,179 
Corn,  Indian,  105 
Cotton,  150, 153 
Cotton  gin,  148-151 

DARLING,  GRACE,  92-94 
Delaware  and  Hudson  canal,  221 
Dinner,  a  modern,  131 
DODGE,  JOHN  ADAMS,  174 
DRAKE,  E.  L.,  78 
Dugout,  197 

DUNSTER,  REV.  HENRY,  254 
Dutch  ovens,  27 
Dynamo,  85 


296 


INDEX. 


EDISON,  THOMAS  A.,  86 
Electric  cars,  242 
Electric  lighting,  85 
Electrotyping,  257 
Eliot's  Indian  Bible,  254 
ELLSWORTH,  Miss,  274 
Erie  canal,  221 
EVANS,  OLIVER,  209 

FABIUS,  63 

FAIRBANKS,  RICHARD,  259 

FARADAY,  MICHAEL,  85 

FARMER,  MOSES  G.,  268 

FAUST,  JOHN,  253 

FIELD,  CYRUS  W.,  280 

Fire,  14 

Fire,  carrying,  52 

Fireplace,  Pennsylvania,  34 

Fireplaces,  26 

Fishing,  whale,  73 

FITCH,  JOHN,  209 

Flail,  109,  120,  123 

Flax,  147 

Flint,  53 

Foods,  uncultivated,  99 

Fork,  118 

FRANKLIN,  BENJAMIN,  34,  68 

Franklin  press,  255 

Franklin  stove,  34 

Freight,  cost  of  transportation,  218 

Fuel,  37 

FULTON,  ROBERT,  210,272 

Furnaces,  36 

Gang  plow,  114 

Gas,  illuminating,  81 

Gasometer,  83 

GIDEON,  63 

Gin,  cotton,  148-151 

GORE,  OBADIAH,  48 

GREENE,  NATHANIEL,  148 


GREENOCJGH,  J.  J.,  i^ 
Grist  mills,  145 
GROVER,  WILLIAM  O.,  175 
GUTENBERG,  JOHN,  254 

HANNIBAL,  63 

Harvesting,  implements  for,  117 

Heat,  ii 

HENNEPIN,  FATHER,  46 

Hoe,  109 

Hoe  perfecting  press,  253 

Homes,  colonial,  24 

Homes,  Indian,  17 

HOOD,  THOMAS,  173 

Horseback,  191 

HOWE,  ELIAS,  175 

HUNT,  WALTER,  175 

Illuminating  gas,  81 

Implements  for  harvesting,  117;  for 

planting,  in 
Incandescent  light,  87 
Indian  Bible,  Eliot's,  254 
Indian  corn,  105 
Indian  homes,  17 
Inns,  205 
Iroquois,  19 
Irrigation,  127,  128 

JACKSON,  ANDREW,  156 
JEWEL,  MARSHALL,  170 

Kerosene,  77 

Kitchen,  a  New  England,  10 

KNIGHT,  SARAH,  200 

Lamp,  modern,  76 
Lamps,  ancient,  65 
Language,  247 
Leather,  164 
LEIFER,  THOMAS,  224 


INDEX. 


297 


Letters,  247 
LEWIS,  IDA,  94 
Light,  arc,  87 
Lighthouses,  90 
Lighting,  electric,  85 
Linotype,  257 

LIVINGSTON,    ROBERT  R.,  212 
Log  cabin,  26 

LONGSTREET,   WlLLIAM,   2Og 

Loom,  147 

Lord  of  Padua,  32 

Mail  car,  262 

Matches,  51 

McCoRMicK,  CYRUS  H.,  122 

Menlo  Park,  87 

Message,  first,  across  the  Atlantic,  282 

Middlesex  canal,  221 

MILES,  GENERAL,  in  New  Mexico,  268 

Modern  land  travel,  235  ;  water  travel, 

229 

Money  orders,  261 
MOREY,  SAMUEL,  209 
MORSE,  SAMUEL  F.  B.,  270;  his  titles 

and  honors,  276 
Mower,  117 

MURDOCH,  WILLIAM,  82 
MYER,  MAJOR,  266 

Needles,  172 

NOTT,  ELIPHALET,  159 

OGLE,  HENRY,  122 
Oil  wells,  79 
Ovens,  DUtch,  27 

Padua,  Lord  of,  32 

PECK,  GENERAL,  at  Suffolk,  267 

Pepper,  132 

Pine  knots,  62 

Planter,  115 


Planting,  implements  for.  in 
Plow,  109, 112 
Plow,  sulky,  114 
Postage  stamps,  261 
Postal  system,  258 
Postmaster-general,  260 
Power  of  speech,  247 
Printing  press,  Franklin,  255;  mod- 
ern, 246 
PROMETHEUS,  15 
Pruning  hook,  109 
Pullman  sleeper,  237 

Queen  of  Sheba,  249 

Railroad  train,  old-style,  227 

Railroads,  223 

Rake,  118 

RALEIGH,  WALTER,  106 

"RAND,  OLD  MA'AM,"  271 

Range,  36 

Reaper,  120 

RUMFORD,  COUNT,  33-35 

RUMSEY,  JAMES,  209 

SCHOLFIELD,  ARTHUR,  IOO 

SCHOLFIELD,  JOHN,   l6o 

Scots  Magazine,  269 
Scribe,  ancient,  251 
Scythe,  109, 117 
Sea  coal,  45 
Sewing  machines,  175 
SHOEMAKER,  COLONEL,  48 
Signal  station,  Suffolk,  267 
Signaling,  265 
SINGER,  ISAAC  M.,  175 
SLATER,  JOHN  F.,  156 
SLATER,  SAMUEL,  153 
Soil,  124 
SOLOMON.  249 
Sower,  114 


298 


INDEX. 


SOWER,  CHRISTOPHER,  255 

Special  delivery,  261 

SPOTSWOOD,  COLONEL,  260 

SQUANTO,  108 

Stagecoaches,  200 

Steamboats,  207 

Steam  engine,  178 

STEPHENSON,  GEORGE,  225 

Stereotyping,  257 

STEVENS,  JOHN,  209 

Stockton  and  Darlington  Railway,  226 

Stoves,  36 

Subway,  Boston,  242 

Sulky  plow,  114 

"Sully,"  packet  ship,  272 

Suspension  bridge,  Niagara,  240 

Taverns,  206 
Telegraph,  270 
Telephone,  286 
Telephone  incident,  290 
THIMONIER,  MARTHELEMY,  176 
THOMPSON,  BENJAMIN,  33 
THOMSON,  ELIHU,  86 
Thresher,  121 


Threshing,  123 
Tinder  box,  53 
Torches,  61 

Travel  by  horseback,  191;  by  land, 
187  ;  by  water,  194 

Uncultivated  foods,  99 
Union  Pacific  Railroad,  228 
United  States  post  offices,  264 
University  press,  255 

Vestal  Virgin,  14 
Victoria  Jubilee,  284 
Vinegar,  135 

Walter  press,  252 

WATT,  JAMES,  179 

Wells,  oil.  79 

WEST,  BENJAMIN,  272 

WESTINGHOUSE,  GEORGE,  JR.,  236 

Whale  fishing,  73 

Whale  oil,  72 

WHITMAN,  MARCUS,  168 

WHITNEY,  ELI,  149 

WILSON,  ALLEN  B.,  175 

Wool,  158 


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Arithmetic  in  the  Public  Schools 


THE  NORMAL  COURSE  IN   NUMBER. 

By  JOHN  W.  COOK,  President  of  Northern  Illinois  State  Nor- 
mal School,  and  Miss  N.  CROPSEY,  Assistant  Superintendent  City 
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The     New     Elementary     Arithmetic.        (With     or     without 
answers.)     For  the  3d,  4th  and  5th  grades  of  school  work. 

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Abridged  Elementary  Arithmetic.     For  3d  and  4th  year  work. 

229  pp. 38c. 

Identical  with  the  above  save  for  the  omission  of  Fractions,  Compound  Num- 
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The  New  Advanced  Arithmetic.     (With  or  without  answers.) 

405  PP 6sc. 

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Answers  to  the  New  Advanced  Arithmetic  (separate)    .    36c. 

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First  Steps  in  Arithmetic.     By  ELLA  M.  PIERCE,  Supervisor 

of    Primary   Grades,    Public     Schools,    Providence,    R.  I. 

160  pp 36c. 

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Easy  Problems  in  the  Principles  of  Arithmetic. 

By  ELIZABETH  T.  MILLS.     168  pp $1.00. 

Furnishes  teachers  with  a  complete  and  carefully  graded  set  of  interesting 
supplementary  problems.     Valuable  for  auxiliary  service. 
Practical  Tests  in  Commercial  and  Higher  Arithmetic. 

By  ERNEST  L.  THURSTON,  C.  E.,    Head   of   Department  of 
Business  Arithmetic  in  Washington,  D.  C.,  Business  High 

School.     68  pp 42c. 

Special  preparation  for  the  daily  demands  of  business  is  the  aim  of  this  valu- 
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